Summer  And 


School  Library. 

siliil 

by  Rev.  M o roIS-'M  . S H E E t>Y  - 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/socialproblemsOOshee 


Catholic  Summer  and  Winter  School  Library 


NOW  READY: 

SOCIAL  PROBLEMS,  by  Rev.  Morgan  M.  Sheedy. 
CHRISTIAN  ETHICS,  by  Rev.  Jas.  Joseph  Conway,  S.J. 
SCIENCE  AND  DOCTRINE,  by  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Zahm,  C.S.C. 
PREHISTORIC  AMERICANS,  by  the  Marquis  deNadaillac. 
I.  “ The  Mound  Builders.”  II.  " The  Cliff  Dwellers.” 


SUMMER  SCHOOL  ESSAYS.  Vol.  I. 

"Buddhism  and  Christianity,”  by  Mgr.  De  Harlez; 
"Christian  Science  and  Faith  Cure,”  by  Dr.  T.  P. 
Hart ; " Growth  of  Reading  Circles,”  by  Rev.  T.  Mc- 
Millan, C.S.P. ; "Reading  Circle  Work,”  by  Rev. 
W.  J.  Dalton;  "Church  Music,”  by  Rev.  R.  Fuhr, 
O.S.F. ; "Catholic  Literary  Societies,”  by  Miss 
K.  E.  Conway;  "Historical  Criticism,”  by  Rev.  C. 
De  Smedt,  S.J. 


SUMMER  SCHOOL  ESSAYS.  Vol.  II. 

"The  Spanish  Inquisition,”  by  Rev.  J.  F.  Nugent; 
"Savonarola,”  by  Conde  B.  Pallen,  Ph.D. ; "Joan 
of  Arc,”  by  J.  W.  Wilstach;  "Magna  Charta,”  by 
Prof.  J.  G.  Ewing;  "Missionary  Explorers  of  the 
Northwest,”  by  Judge  W.  L.  Kelly. 


IN  PREPARA  TION: 

Church  and  State,  by  Rt.  Rev.  S.  G.  Messmer,  D.D. 
The  Sacred  Scriptures,  by  Rev.  P.  J.  Danehy,  D.D. 
Literature  and  Faith,  by  Prof.  M.  F.  Egan,  LL.D. 

The  Eastern  Schism,  by  Rev.  Jos.  La  Boule. 
Economics,  by  Hon.  R.  Graham  Frost. 

Catholic  Educational  Development, 

by  Rev.  E.  Magevney,  S.J. 


Cloth,  Price  Per  Volume,  Fifty  Cents. 


Catholic  Summer  and  Winter  School  Library 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS 


BY 

REVEREND  MORGAN  M.  SHEEDY 

First  President  of  the  Catholic  Summer 
School  of  America;  author  of 
" Christian  Unity,"  etc. 


The  great  mistake  that  is  made  in  the  matter  now  under  con* 
sideration  is  to  possess  one’s  self  of  the  idea  that  class  is  naturally 
hostile  to  class ; that  rich  and  poor  are  intended  by  nature  to  live 
at  war  with  one  another.  So  irrational  and  so  false  is  this  view, 
that  the  exact  contrary  is  the  truth.  Just  as  the  symmetry  of  the 
human  body  is  the  result  of  the  disposition  of  the  members  of  the 
body,  so  in  a state  it  is  ordained  by  nature  that  these  two  classes 
should  exist  in  harmony  and  agreement,  and  should,  as  it  were,  fit 
into  one  another,  so  as  to  maintain  the  equilibrium  of  the  body 
politic.  Each  requires  the  other  * capital  cannot  do  without  labor, 
nor  labor  without  capital.  Mutual  agreement  results  in  pleasant- 
ness and  good  order ; perpetual  conflict  necessarily  produces  con- 
fusion and  outrage. 

Now,  in  preventing  such  strife  as  this,  and  in  making  it  impos- 
sible, the  efficacy  of  Christianity  is  marvelous  and  manifold.  First 
of  all,  there  is  nothing  more  powerful  than  religion  (of  which  the 
Church  is  the  interpreter  and  guardian)  in  drawing  rich  and  poor 
together,  by  reminding  each  class  of  its  duties  to  the  other,  and 
especially  of  the  duties  of  justice.  . POPE  LEO  XIII. 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  USSRASft 
CHESTNUT  s jJUL  awusfc, 

CHICAGO 

D.  H.  McBRIDE  & CO. 

i 8 9 6 


Copyright,  1896 

BY 

D.  H.  McBRIDB  & CO. 


PREFACE 


BVERY  student  of  Social  Science  is 
deeply  interested  in  the  subjects 
discussed  in  the  following  pages.  The 
matter  treated  of  is  of  profound  impor- 
tance since  it  deals  with  practical  issues 
of  vital  interest  to  the  peace  and  sta- 
bility of  society.  All  who  are  honestly 
striving  to  solve  the  labor  problem, 
those  who  have  given  some  thought  to 
the  broader  question  of  Socialism,  will 
gladly  welcome  any  aid,  no  matter 
whence  it  comes  or  how  slight  it  may 
be,  that  will  make  their  task  less  diffi- 
cult. 

More  especially  is  it  hoped  that  the 
great  body  of  our  American  workmen 
and  the  members  of  our  Reading  Cir- 
cles may  derive  some  benefit  from  this 
publication.  Every  one  understands 
that  the  influence  and  teaching  of  the 

5 


6 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


Catholic  Church  must  have  great 
weight  in  the  final  adjustment  of  the 
bitter  conflict  that  goes  on  to-day  in 
the  industrial  world.  The  practical 
outcome  of  the  teaching  of  the  Church 
is  felt  and  constantly  reflected  in  the 
close  relations  that  necessarily  exist 
between  labor  and  capital.  It  be- 
comes, then,  a matter  of  great  moment 
to  know  exactly  where  the  Church 
stands ; what  principles  she  upholds 
and  approves  ; what  principles  she  re- 
jects and  condemns. 

Following  the  guidance  of  Leo  XIII. 
in  his  Encyclical  “ On  Labor,”  which  is 
appended  to  the  book,  the  writer  has 
endeavored  to  set  forth  the  doctrine 
and  position  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  form  in  which  the  subject-matter 
is  given  to  the  public  is  substantially 
the  same  as  that  in  which  it  was  pre- 
sented to  the  students  of  the  Summer 
School  at  Champlain,  New  York,  and 
to  those  of  the  Winter  School  at  New 
Orleans,  this  year. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  work,  a 
large  number  of  authorities  were  con- 
sulted. To  the  Reverend  Father  Fin- 


PREFACE. 


7 


lay,  S.  J.,  the  writer  begs  to  acknowl- 
edge his  indebtedness  for  the  assistance 
received  through  his  excellent  paper  on 
Socialism. 

Morgan  M.  Sheedy. 


Altoona,  Pa. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I. 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  WAGE- 
EARNER. 


Chapter  Page 


I.  Basis  of  Discussion  — The  Origin 

of  the  Labor  Problem 13 

II.  Honest  Differences  of  Opinion..  19 

III.  Leo  XIII.  on  the  Condition  of 

Labor 23 

IV.  The  Rights  of  Private  Property  28 

V.  Where  the  True  Remedy  May  Be 

Found 32 

VI.  Wages,  How  Computed 34 

VII.  Theory  of  Supply  and  Demand.  ..  40 

VIII.  Starvation  Rates  of  Wages  — A 

Practical  Illustration 45 

IX.  Workingmen’s  Societies  Recog- 
nized by  the  Church 50 

X.  Condition  of  Workingwomen  and 

Girls 55 

XI.  Industrial  Slavery 59 

XII.  The  Writer’s  Experience 62 

(9) 


10 


CONTENTS. 


PART  II. 

SOCIALISM  AND  SOCIALISTS. 


Chapter  Page 

XIII.  Socialism  an  Important  Sub- 

ject— Its  Definition 69 

XIV.  Individualism  and  Capitalism..  76 

XV.  Growth  of  Capitalism 81 

XVI.  The  Condition  of  the  Work- 
man   84 

XVII.  Revolt  Against  Capitalism 89 


XVIII.  Anarchy  and  Its  Lurid  Gospel  93 
XIX.  Karl  Marx  and  His  Theories.  97 
XX.  La  Salle  and  His  Career  — 


French  Socialists 101 

XXL  Socialism  in  England  and  the 

United  States 104 

XXII.  Christian  Socialism 114 

XXIII.  Christian  Socialism  Outside 

the  Church 120 

REFERENCES 123 

APPENDIX.  — Encyclical  Letter  of 
Pope  Leo  XIII.  on  the  Condition  of 
Labor 127 


PART  I 

The  Church  and  the  Wage-Earner 


(U> 


PART  I. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE 
WAGE-EARNER 

CHAPTER  I. 

BASIS  OF  DISCUSSION  — THE  ORIGIN  OF 
THE  LABOR  PROBLEM. 

/TTHE  term  “ labor  question  ” is  a mod- 
ern,  concrete  expression,  used  to 
represent  the  demands  which  the  em- 
ployed may  make  of  employers.  It 
belongs  entirely  to  the  present  system 
of  industry,  and  is  to  be  understood 
only  from  a full  consideration  of  indus- 
trial conditions.  In  the  middle  of  this 
century  it  simply  stood  for  the  demand 
for  less  hours  or  more  pay.  As  intelli- 
gence has  increased,  as  machinery  has 
been  developed,  as  labor  has  been  more 
and  more  subdivided,  as  hygienic  and 
physical  conditions  have  improved,  the 
phases  and  ramifications  of  the  labor 

13 


14 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


question  have  increased  proportionately, 
until  to-day  it  stands  for  all  the  elements 
involved  in  the  industrial  system. 

It  is  a short  term  for  the  evolution  of 
industrial  forces,  and  includes  a wide 
range  of  sociological  studies.  It  em- 
braces the  wants  of  the  wage-earner, 
and  such  wants  comprehend  the  discus- 
sion of  the  just  and  equitable  distribu- 
tion of  profits  or  the  products  of  labor 
and  capital.  It  is  in  this  latter  sense 
that  the  vital  elements  of  the  labor 
problem,  whether  from  an  economical 
or  moral  point  of  view,  may  be  found  ; 
for  the  just  distribution  of  profits  can 
best  be  discussed  on  grounds  covering 
both  economics  and  ethics  ; since  it  is 
now  recognized  that  justice  and  equity 
are  involved  in  the  consideration  of 
such  distribution. 

It  is  true  that  a just  distribution  of 
profits,  by  which  support  and  provision 
for  old  age  may  be  secured,  as  well  as 
passing  support,  depends  much  more 
upon  the  cost  of  living,  habits  of  fru- 
gality, temperance,  good  morals,  sani- 
tary conditions,  educational  privileges, 
and  various  forces  of  a moral  nature, 


THE  LABOR  PROBLEM . 


15 


than  upon  purely  economical  condi- 
tions. The  labor  question  must,  there- 
fore, be  discussed  on  a broad  and  com- 
prehensive basis,  not  merely  on  econ- 
omic grounds. 

The  age  has  been  one  of  material 
progress,  and  economics  have  ruled 
almost  at  the  expense  of  ethics.  The 
strides  civilization  has  made  command 
our  admiration,  and  its  onward  steps 
are  marked  by  numerous  and  con- 
vincing evidences,  but  such  evidences 
are  outside  of  economics  and  are  only 
considered  by  the  economist  as  the 
cost  may  enter  into  the  distribution  of 
the  wealth  it  seeks  to  create,  and  not 
as  a means  for  a better  and  happier 
condition,  wherein  wealth  could  be 
more  successfully  produced. 

It  is,  therefore,  legitimate  to  con- 
sider the  labor  question  at  least  one  of 
paramount  importance  to  any  question 
which  commands  public  attention.  The 
welfare  of  the  wage-earner  is  enhanced 
by  all  those  efforts  which  seek  to 
ameliorate  miserable  conditions  sur- 
rounding any  portion  of  the  human 
race ; which  seek  to  allay  discontent, 


16 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


to  prevent  violence  and  crime,  to  in- 
crease temperate  habits,  to  foster 
moral  and  religious  growth,  to  procure 
the  best  social  environment,  to  increase 
the  opportunities  for  mental  culture,  to 
preserve  the  integrity  of  the  family,  to 
raise  the  standard  of  citizenship,  to 
strengthen  the  political  structure,  to 
elevate  individual  character  — in  fact, 
to  secure  the  highest  conditions,  in  all 
respects,  of  the  human  race. 

The  labor  question,  to-day,  and  social 
science  are  nearly,  if  not  fully,  synony- 
mous terms.  It  is  the  broadened  intelli- 
gence of  the  wage-earners  which  has 
enlarged  their  demands  to  such  pro- 
portions that  their  demands  are  made 
not  only  upon  their  employers,  but 
upon  legislation  and  the  whole  body 
politic.  Under  the  feudal  system  the 
laborer  was  cared  for  in  all  his  physical 
wants  by  the  feudal  lord. 

Under  the  succeeding,  or  wage  sys- 
tem, he  has  been  left  to  care  for  him- 
self. Theoretically,  his  wages  are  paid 
according  to  his  capacity  and  not  his 
wants.  Practically,  under  competition, 
his  wages  are  paid  too  much  in  accord- 


THE  LABOR  PROBLEM. 


17 


ance  with  his  necessitous  wants  and  not 
sufficiently  in  accordance  with  his 
capacity.  In  this  last  respect,  we  find 
the  origin  of  the  labor  question. 

What  has  been  said  applies  to  the 
wage-earners  of  all  countries  in  which 
the  modern  industrial  system  has  made 
any  considerable  progress,  and  it  is 
substantially  the  same  in  all  its  phases 
in  all  such  countries.  The  labor  ques- 
tion, as  such,  has  nothing  to  do  with 
Anarchy,  with  Communism,  or  with 
Socialism,  although  all  three  of  these 
philosophies  take  on  many  of  the  phases 
of  the  labor  question,  and  in  the  minds 
of  many  persons  there  is,  consequently, 
a confusion  of  ideas  connecting  the  one 
with  the  others,  and  all  forming  the 
general  question.  The  workingmen  of 
America  have  no  occasion  to  be  Anar- 
chists, nor  Communists,  nor  Socialists, 
although  were  all  their  demands  con- 
ceded to  them,  our  American  govern- 
ments would  find  themselves  more 
thoroughly  on  a socialistic  basis  than 
that  upon  which  they  now  rest. 

The  wage-earners  in  the  United  States, 
that  is,  those  who  work  for  fixed  wages  or 
s.  P.-2 


18 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


small  salaries,  constitute  in  round  num- 
bers about  20,000,000,  or  three -tenths 
of  the  whole  population;  the  average 
income  of  the  wage-worker  does  not 
exceed  $400.00  per  annum.  This  body 
is  represented  in  sex  as  about  five  males 
to  one  female. 


CHAPTER  II. 


HONEST  DIFFERENCES  OF  OPINION. 

“ /^7HE  conflict  between  those  who  have 
and  those  who  wish  to  have  is  said 
to  be  irrepressible,  and  yet  it  is  agreed 
that  if  they  could  work  in  harmony,  the 
result  would  vastly  increase  the  general 
welfare.  Whether  the  present  depres- 
sion is  drawing  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
the  employer  and  the  workingman, 
closer  together,  is  a question  worthy  of 
consideration.” 

The  interests  of  labor  and  capital  are 
identical;  to  obtain  the  highest  results 
both  should  work  in  perfect  harmony. 
To  bring  about  a satisfactory  adjust- 
ment of  the  differences  that  exist — that 
is  one  of  the  problems  of  the  age.  It 
has  taxed  the  best  minds  in  two  hemis- 
pheres and  the  highest  statesmanship  to 
find  an  adequate  solution. 

After  years  of  close  and  careful  study 
of  the  industrial  question  in  its  various 

19 


20 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


phases,  honest  men  are  still  widely  apart, 
both  in  theory  and  the  practical  results 
of  their  investigation.  And  this  applies 
to  those  who  have  been  actual  partici- 
pants, whether  on  the  side  of  labor  or 
capital,  in  some  of  the  most  important 
labor  contests  of  our  day,  just  as  much 
as  it  does  to  the  looker-on  or  specula- 
tive thinker. 

Writers  on  political  economy  are 
no  more  agreed  in  their  views  and 

O 

the  application  of  their  remedies  than 
are  the  representatives  of  labor  and 
capital.  From  the  rankest  Socialism  to 
ultra-Conservatism  we  discover  every 
grade  of  opinion  and  doctrine.  So 
much  disturbance  has  been  created  in 
society  by  the  growth  of  false  teaching 
on  this  subject  and  the  frequent  out- 
break of  strikes  and  lockouts  that  there 
is  scarcely  a nation  that  has  not  found 
it  necessary  to  fully  examine  the  ques- 
tion. 

To-day  a labor  conference  is  held 
by  direction  of  the  young  Emperor  of 
Germany  in  Berlin  to  stay  the  rising 
tide  of  democracy;  to-morrow,  a royal 
commission  on  labor  sits  in  London  to 


DIFFERENCES  OF  OPINION. 


21 


discuss  the  questions  which  English 
trades-unionism  has  brought  to  public 
attention.  Here  in  the  United  States 
there  is  no  end  to  the  conferences  and 
conventions  of  labor,  all  looking  to  the 
betterment  of  the  conditions  of  the 
wage -earner.  Among  the  many  con- 
gresses held  during  the  Columbian  Ex- 
position at  Chicago,  not  the  least  im- 
portant was  that  of  Labor. 

There  is,  then,  both  among  students 
and  practical  men  of  affairs  a deep  search- 
ing for  sound  principles  which  underlie 
this  whole  problem  in  the  hope  that  a 
way  can  be  found  by  which  equal  and  ex- 
act justice  may  be  finally  rendered  to  em- 
ployer and  employed;  a means  by  which 
the  suicidal  war  which  has  so  long 
threatened  the  world  of  industry  may 
be  ended.;  a peaceable  and  satisfactory 
solution  of  the  grave  questions  in  con- 
troversy may  be  reached;  and  a higher 
and  better  industrial  system,  resting  on 
the  solid  basis  of  justice,  may  be  per- 
manently established. 

It  is,  indeed,  a hopeful  sign  that  we  are 
nearing  a solution  when  we  find  so  much 
serious  thought  given  to  the  subject. 


22 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


The  true  friend  of  the  wage-earner 
and  the  capitalist,  the  students  and 
specialists  in  industrial  topics,  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  various  organizations 
of  labor  and  capital,  have  come  to  a 
clearer  understanding  of  the  issues  in- 
volved. 

Here  in  the  United  States,  where  there 
is  a growing  state  of  social  unrest,  because 
of  the  conflict  between  labor  and  capital, 
much  reliance  is  placed  on  the  practical 
good  sense  of  the  people  and  our  capacity 
for  self-government  to  solve  this  ques- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  HI. 


LEO  XIII.  ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR. 

HUT  the  clearest  and  fullest  light 
comes  to  us  on  this  vast  and  im- 
portant subject,  the  industrial  question, 
from  that  quarter  towards  which  the 
world  has  invariably  turned  for  light. 

In  the  Encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.,  “ On 
the  Condition  of  Labor,  ” the  highest  ex- 
pectations of  all  who  looked  with  interest 
for  its  promulgation  were  fulfilled.  It 
is  indeed  the  most  important  utterance, 
most  opportunely  given,  of  the  states- 
man Pope.  And  that  is  much  to  say 
with  the  remembrance  of  his  preceding 
Encyclicals  on  the  Christian  Constitu- 
tion of  States  and  Human  Liberty. 

Presented  to  the  world  in  the  midst  of 
the  religious  feast  of  Pentecost,  may  we 
not  hope  that  it  shall  be  understood  in 
all  languages  as  the  inspired  discourses 
of  the  apostles ; and  may  it  regenerate 
the  worn  out  and  unbalanced  order  of  a 
world  that  is  suffering  from  a crisis  and 

23 


24 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


the  pains  of  a new  birth.  It  has  been 
remarked  that  a century  ago,  in  1791, 
the  French  Revolution,  by  a definitive 
decree,  abolished  the  corporations  which 
formed  the  base  of  the  ancient  social 
order.  In  1891  Leo  XIII.  promulgates 
a new  economical  character  at  the  very 
moment  when  industrial  society,  founded 
on  the  Manchester  doctrines,  tends 
towards  ruin.  And  for  this  act  of  his, 
the  Pope  receives  a special  message  of 
congratulation  from  the  (present)  repub- 
lican government  of  France.  Leo  has 
well  chosen  this  fateful  hour  to  teach 
the  world  the  true  social  gospel.  ' 

After  all,  men  must  be  brought  to  see 
that  the  papacy  alone  remains  the  great 
international  power  to-day,  as  it  was  in 
past  ages  ; that  it  is  possessed  of  suffi- 
cient authority  and  strength  ; that  it  is 
sufficiently  sure  of  itself  and  rich  in  light 
and  energy  to  attempt  the  supreme 
task  of  reconciling  the  contending 
forces  of  society  and  establishing  social 
harmony. 

Across  the  “tottering  thrones  and 
drooping  sceptres,”  Leo  XIII.  notes 
the  rising  tide  of  democracy  ; he  sees 


LEO  XIII.  ON  LABOR. 


25 


that  the  old  order  must  give  way  to  the 
new  ; that  the  twentieth  century,  which 
we  are  rapidly  approaching,  will  be, 
what  the  late  Cardinal  Manning  prophe- 
sied, “ the  people’s  century.”  It  is  the 
effort  to  harmonize  the  eternal  teachings 
of  the  gospel  with  the  actual  necessities 
of  the  modern  world  that  bestows  on 
this  Encyclical  the  character  of  a mes- 
sage of  arbitration  and  makes  it  a spe- 
cies of  “Truce  of  God.”  And  all  this 
is  accomplished  with  a perfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  whole  question,  fdled 
though  it  is  with  intrinsic  and  technical 
difficulties,  with  varying  and  constantly 
changing  conditions. 

The  composition  of  the  Encyclical 
presupposes  an  acquaintance  with  the 
whole  range  of  the  vast  literature  of 
the  subject  of  which  it  treats.  This 
he  has  reduced  to  a clear  and  accu- 
rate series  of  important  statements. 
It  is  only  a master  mind  who  could 
bear  this  Atlas-burden  and  make  this 
synthesis.  Herein  we  have  summed 
up  the  teaching  of  the  Church  on  the 
labor  question.  All  Christian  tradition 
is  embodied  in  its  utterances. 


26 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


In  reading  the  Encyclical  the  mind 
almost  unconsciously  reflects  on  the 
transforming  action  of  the  Church 
in  the  world.  It  recalls  the  days 
of  those  celebrated  monasteries  where 
the  religious  became  shoemakers,  ma- 
sons, carpenters,  laborers,  mingling 
manual  labor  with  meditation  and 
the  chanting  of  the  praises  of  God. 
It  takes  us  back  to  the  apostles  who 
taught  the  rich  to  make  due  pro- 
vision for  the  wants  of  the  poor,  so 
that  “neither  was  there  any  one  needy 
among  them  ; ” it  revives  the  memories 
of  the  guilds  of  former  ages  ; it  sug- 
gests a picture  of  the  artisan  monk  who, 
in  the  austere  silence  of  the  trappist’s 
life,  realizes  the  dignity  of  labor.  Nay, 
more,  it  carries  the  mind  and  heart  of 
the  reader  back  to  Him  who  taught  that 
“ the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,”  and 
whose  example,  as  the  Carpenter  of 
Nazareth,  has  merited  for  the  working- 
man in  every  land  that  Christian  nobility 
which  constitutes  his  greatness  before 
man  and  God. 

What  specially  strikes  one  in  study- 
ing this  Encyclical  is  the  fatherly 


LEO  XIII.  ON  LABOR . 


27 


tenderness  and  sympathy  that  is  dis- 
played by  the  Pope.  He  deals  with 
the  problems  nearest  the  hearts  of  the 
common  people.  Let  us  consider  a 
few.  The  right  of  private  property  in 
land  ; the  relations  of  capital  and  labor  ; 
the  sacred  rights  of  the  wage- earner ; 
differences  between  employers  and  em- 
ployees ; strikes  ; the  proper  regulation 
of  the  hours  of  labor ; and  lastly,  work- 
ingmen^ guilds,  insurance  and  benefi- 
cial societies. 

What  is  the  teaching  of  the  Su- 
preme Pastor  on  these  subjects  which 
are  of  such  tremendous  importance 
in  our  day  ? Let  us  summarize  the 
principles  and  proportions  of  the  Encyc- 
lical. The  scope  of  this  paper  does  not 
require  that  we  follow  too  closely  the 
line  of  argument  or  the  many  proofs  so 
luminously  set  forth. 


CHAPTER  IV.^ 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  PRIVATE  PROPERTY. 

IN  the  first  place,  the  Pope  clearly  de- 
* fines  the  inviolability  of  private 
property,  especially  in  land.  For  ob- 
vious reasons  this  teaching  is  of  special 
interest,  since  it  sets  aside  as  false  and 
contrary  to  sound  morals  the  doctrines 
of  Henry  George  and  the  Anti-Poverty 
Society.  He  shows  how  it  is  for  the 
best  interest  of  the  wage-earner  to 
maintain  and  stand  by  the  true  Catholic 
doctrine. 

He  considers  the  methods  of  cure 
proposed  by  the  Socialists  as  ut- 
terly futile  or  as  infinitely  worse 
than  the  present  evils  of  competition. 
By  abolishing  private  property  and 
transferring  individual  possessions  to 
the  community,  this  would  simply 
create  the  most  cruel  tyranny  ever 
established  in  civilization,  and  “strike 
at  the  interest  of  every  wage-worker,” 
28 


RIGHTS  OF  PRIVATE  PROPERTY.  29 

for  it  “ would  deprive  him  of  the  liberty 
of  disposing  of  his  wages,  and  thus,  of 
all  hope  and  possibility  of  increasing 
his  stock  and  bettering  his  condition 
in  life.” 

Under  this  system,  the  individual 
would  have  no  rights,  the  commu- 
nity all  rights  and  all  power.  It 
would  be  a frightful  despotism,  under 
which  society  would  sink  into  apathy 
and  eventually  into  barbarism.  The 
individual  would  be  a slave,  and  the 
freedom  with  which  he  had  parted 
would  never  come  back  to  him,  unless 
after  a conflict  longer  and  fiercer  than 
any  mankind  has  waged  in  the  whole 
course  of  its  fights  to  throw  off  the 
shackles  of  tyranny. 

Society,  too,  would  be  unfitted  for 
such  a conflict,  because  of  the  supineness 
produced  by  its  complete  enslavement, 
and,  therefore,  the  contest  would  be  long 
and  savage,  marked  by  the  terrible  atroci- 
ties inseparable  from  an  insurrection  of 
slaves.  The  result  would  be  the 
destruction  of  the  fabric  of  our  present 
civilization  and  all  the  material  and 
spiritual  treasures  contained  within  it. 


30 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


The  conflict  would  be  between  a mass 
of  helpless  serfs,  stripped  of  every 
material  possession,  made  desperate 
and  ferocious  by  their  condition  and 
surroundings,  and  a few  masters  who 
would  have  succeeded  in  securing  all 
power  and  every  resource  of  the  com- 
munity. That  would  be  the  outcome 
of  this  false  theory,  if  there  were  found 
any  community  guilty  of  the  great 
folly  of  experimenting  with  it. 

Again,  Leo  XIII.  proves  to  the  work- 
ingman that  his  highest  interests  are 
involved  in  the  Catholic  doctrine  on  the 
right  of  private  property.  The  aim 
and  object  of  the  wage-worker  in  hiring 
his  services  to  another  is  to  obtain  a 
recompense  which  he  may  dispose  of 
according  to  his  necessities  or  his  con- 
venience. 

Now,  if  by  economy  and  self-sacri- 
fice he  is  able  to  set  aside  a portion 
of  his  earnings,  he  certainly  has  a 
full  and  perfect  right  to  make  use  of 
this  as  he  thinks  proper.  If,  for  the 
sake  of  greater  security,  he  invests  his 
earnings  in  real  estate,  he  simply  puts 
them  into  another  shape,  reconvertible, 


RIGHTS  OF  PRIVATE  PROPERTY.  31 

when  he  so  desires,  into  money.  The 
land  which  he  purchased  with  his  savings 
is  undoubtedly  as  much  his  as  the 
wages  were  with  which  he  bought  it.  He 
can  dispose  of  the  one  as  he  did  of  the 
other.  But  this  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  the  right  of  private  property. 
As  the  Holy  Father  puts  it : 

‘‘Nature,  which  is  never  wanting  in 
things  necessary,  must  have  furnished 
mankind  with  some  stable  and  reasonable 
method  of  providing  for  his  wants.  Now, 
where  do  we  find  such  provision,  ex- 
cept in  the  unfailing  and  teeming  fer- 
tility of  mother  earth,  so  that  he  may 
secure  for  his  existence  not  only  the 
fruits  of  this  year’s  crops,  but  also  have 
a guarantee  of  similar  fruits  in  future. 
Consequently,  the  right  of  private  prop- 
erty in  land  comes  under  this  head  by 
the  very  law  of  nature,  and  to  deprive 
man  of  it  is  to  do  him  a grave  injus- 
tice.” 

This  argument  is  drawn  out  at  some 
length,  and  to  it  are  added  the  sanction 
of  Scripture,  of  sound  reason  in  every 
age,  and  the  answer  of  our  Divine  Lord 
to  the  young  man  who  had  large  posses- 
sions. 


CHAPTER  V. 


WHERE  THE  TRUE  REMEDY  MAY  BE 
FOUND. 

AVING  dealt  with  the  fundamental 


principle  of  private  property,  which 
is  an  essential  element  in  the  remedy 
proposed  to  better  the  condition  of  the 
wage-earner,  the  Pope  proceeds  to  point 
out  where  the  true  remedy  can  be  found 
and  how  it  is  to  be  applied. 

No  practical  solution  of  the  labor  ques- 
tion, he  reminds  the  world,  will  ever  be 
arrived  at  without  the  assistance  of  reli- 
gion and  the  Church.  The  rulers  of  states, 
the  wealthy,  the  employers  of  labor,  and 
the  great  army  of  workers  in  every  land 
are  earnestly  reminded  that  all  the  striv- 
ing of  men  will  be  in  vain  if  they  leave 
out  the  Church. 

“ It  is  the  Church,”  says  the  Pope, 
“ that  proclaims  from  the  Gospel  those 
teachings  by  which  the  conflict  can  be 
put  an  end  to  or  at  the  least  be  made 
far  less  bitter;  the  Church  uses  its  efforts 


32 


THE  TRUE  REMEDY. 


33 


not  only  to  enlighten  the  mind,  but  to 
direct  by  its  precepts  the  life  and  conduct 
of  men;  the  Church  improves  and  amelio- 
rates the  condition  of  the  workingman 

o 

by  numerous  useful  organizations;  does 
its  best  to  enlist  the  services  of  all  ranks 
in  discussing  and  endeavoring  to  meet, 
in  the  most  practical  way,  the  claims  of 
the  working  classes;  and  acts  on  the 
decided  view  that  for  these  purposes 
recourse  should  be  had,  in  due  measure 
and  degree,  to  the  help  of  the  law  and 
of  state  authority.” 

With  this  object  in  sight,  after  de- 
nouncing speculators  in  human  labor,  he 
urges  the  state  to  safeguard  those  boards 
of  arbitration,  wherever  they  exist,  that 
help  the  wage-earner  to  secure  fair 
wages, 
s.  P. — 3 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WAGES,  HOW  COMPUTED. 

®ET  us  examine  closely  the  words  of 
^ the  Encyclical  on  this  subject  of 
wages.  Because  ever  since  labor  be- 
came free,  all  the  great  disturbances  in 
the  industrial  world  have  been  chiefly 
caused  by  a difference  between  labor 
and  capital  on  the  rate  of  wages.  It  is 
here  that  the  interests  of  employer  and 
employed  begin  to  diverge,  and  it  is  on 
the  question  of  wages  that  strikes  and 
lockouts  mostly  originate.  In  an  in- 
quiry into  the  origin  of  strikes  and  lock- 
outs, out  of  a total  of  813  labor  contests 
investigated,  582  or  71.59  per  cent,  were 
caused  by  differences  as  to  rate  of  wages. 
Of  these  582  contests,  86  per  cent,  were 
for  advances  in  wages,  and  14  per  cent, 
against  reductions. 

While  these  exact  proportions  will 

34 


WAGES  HOW  COMPUTED. 


35 


not  hold  in  all  cases,  nor  in  all  sections 
and  industries,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  by 
far  the  most  prolific  sources  of  labor  dis- 
putes are  differences  as  to  wages. 

It  will  also  be  found  that  many  dis- 
putes that  are  not  primarily  disputes 
about  wages,  have  a direct  bearing  on 
rates  of  wages,  and  are  important  only 
because  of  such  bearing.  Apart  from 
rates  of  wages,  the  causes  of  these  dif- 
ferences are  legion. 

Trouble  may  arise  concerning  the 
basis  of  computing  wages  ; the  method, 
time  or  frequency  of  payment ; the  store 
system ; hours  of  labor ; the  holidays 
and  weekly  half  holiday  ; apprentice- 
ship ; administration  and  methods  of 
work,  such  as  shop  rules,  labor-saving 
machinery,  piecework,  objectionable 
workmen ; trades  unions  and  their 
rules,  and  a thousand  and  one  causes 
that  we  daily  hear  of.  Noth  withstand- 
ing their  number,  however,  it  will  be 
found  that  all  causes  of  differences 
readily  group  themselves  into  three 
general  classes  : 

1st. — Differences  as  to  future  con- 
tracts. 


36 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


2nd. — Disagreements  as  to  existing 
contracts. 

3rd. — Disputes  on  some  matter  of 
sentiment. 

In  the  first  division  would  be  classified 
differences  as  to  future  rates  of  wages, 
and  those  arising  from  attempts  to  change 
or  abrogate  existing  agreements,  cus- 
toms, or  methods  or  to  introduce  new 
ones. 

Disagreements  under  the  second  class 
arise  either  upon  matters  of  fact  or 
construction,  having  in  view  existing 
agreements,  customs,  or  methods,  and 
not  necessarily  involving  the  validity  of 
the  contracts  themselves,  nor  any  change 
in  their  terms. 

Under  the  third  head  are  included 
those  quarrels  that  grow  out  of  the 
offended  amour  propre  either  of  the 
individual  or  the  organization. 

It  is  in  the  first  of  these  classes,  i.  e., 
“ Differences  as  to  future  contracts,” 
which,  as  stated,  includes  questions  as 
to  future  rates  of  wages,  that  disputes 
most  frequently  occur  and  in  which  the 
gravest  difficulties  arise  in  harmonizing 
conflicting  interests  and  hostile  views. 


WAGES,  HOW  COMPUTED.  37 

What  is  “ a fair  day’s  wage  for  a fair 
day’s  work,”  is  a difficult  and  complex 
problem  to  solve.  Concerning  its  solu- 
tion there  are  honest  differences  of 
opinion  even  upon  the  basis  or  princi- 
ple on  which  it  shall  be  decided.  With 
the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides  of  busi- 
ness, of  prices  and  demand — so  frequent 
in  these  days  of  the  increased  effective- 
ness of  labor  and  rapid  transportation — 
with  the  constant  changes  in  methods  of 
production  or  conditions  of  work,  and 
the  introduction  of  improved  machinery 
so  common  in  this  age  of  invention, 
comes  an  ever-recurring  necessity  for  a 
revision  of  the  contracts  or  agreements 
governing  the  relation  of  employer  and 
employed,  and  with  it  the  possibility  of 
differences  as  to  what  changes  the  new 
conditions  demand. 

Let  us  take,  for  instance,  the  iron  and 
steel  business,  the  glass  trade,  or  the 
coke  industry  of  western  Pennsylvania, 
and  we  shall  see  at  once  how  easy  it  is 
for  difficulties  to  arise,  unless  there  be 
found  some  means  of  forestalling  them. 
The  competition  of  trade,  high  or  low 
tariff,  the  facilities  and  cheapness  of 


38 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


transportation,  the  methods  of  produc- 
tion and  other  conditions  imply  the  ne- 
cessity for  frequent  revision  of  agree- 
ments as  to  the  rates  of  wages. 

In  Pittsburg,  which  is  the  heart  and 
center  of  the  iron  and  steel  interests  of 
the  country,  the  Amalgamated  Associa- 
tion of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers  holds  an 
annual  convention  to  determine  the 
“ scale  ” or  rate  of  wages  for  the  ensu- 
ing year.  When  the  “scale  ” is  agreed 
upon  by  the  workers,  it  is  then  submit- 
ted to  the  employers  and  where  dif- 
ferences are  found  they  are  eventu- 
ally adjusted  by  conferences  of  both 
parties. 

This  arrangement  has  worked  success- 
fully for  years,  there  being  only  one  or 
two  notable  instances  when  it  failed, 
and  the  result  was  a bitter  and  deplor- 
able fight.  The  miners,  coke  and  glass 
workers  have  much  more  trouble  in  set- 
tling the  question  of  wages.  With 
them  strikes  and  lockouts  are  much 
more  frequent  and  are  attended — as  in 
the  case  of  the  frequent  strikes  in  the 
Pennsylvania  coke  region,  where  many 
lives  were  sacrificed  and  valuable  prop- 


WAGES,  HOW  COMPUTED. 


39 


erty  destroyed — with  painful  and  dis- 
astrous results. 

It  is,  right  here,  on  this  important 
matter  of  wa^es  and  the  usefulness  and 
benefits  of  labor  associations  that 
Americans  especially  will  find  in  the 
Encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.  sound  and  prac- 
tical principles  of  guidance.  Let  us 
analyze  what  he  has  laid  down. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THEORY  OF  SUPPLY  AND  DEMAND. 

IN  the  first  place,  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  there  is  a wide  divergence 
between  the  Pope’s  teaching  and  the 
views  of  most  of  modern  political  econo- 
mists-who  proclaim  that  supply  and  de- 
mand is  the  great  law  that  always  and 
everywhere  determines  the  rates  of 
wages. 

And  they  insist  that  this  law  is 
inflexible.  Hence  it  is  held  by  the 
advocates  of  this  cruel  law  that  the 
wage-earner  should  be  satisfied  with  the 
market  price  of  his  labor,  whether  that 
be  high  or  low.  Profits  or  the  selling 
price  of  the  manufactured  article,  they 
tell  us,  has  no  direct  bearing  on  the  rate 
of  compensation  that  the  workingman 
receives.  His  wages  are  fixed  by  the 
inexorable  law  of  supply  and  demand 
in  the  labor  market. 


40 


SUPPLY  AND  DEMAND. 


41 


In  combating  this  heartless  doctrine 
of  the  modern  school  of  political  econ- 
omists, Leo  XIII.  lays  down  certain 
principles  that  ought  to  be  accepted  by 
all  just  and  right-thinking  persons. 
Here  is  what  he  says: 

“Wages,  we  are  told,  are  fixed  by  free 
consent;  and,  therefore,  the  employer, 
when  he  pays  what  was  agreed  upon, 
has  done  his  part  and  is  not  called  upon 
to  do  anything  further.” 

In  proving  how  false  and  unjust 
is  this  view  of  the  relationship  ex- 
isting between  the  employer  and  the 
employed,  the  Pope  calls  attention 
to  the  fact  that  man’s  labor  has  two 
notes  or  characteristics.  It  is,  in  the 
first  instance,  personal,  inasmuch  as  the 
muscular  power  or  exertion  put  forth  by 
the  laborer  is  individual  or  personal  to 
him,  and  he  employs  it  for  his  personal 
benefit.  The  second  characteristic  of 
labor  is  that  it  is  necessary,  as  without 
the  results  of  labor  man  cannot  sustain 
life.  “ Self-preservation  is  a law  of 
nature  which  it  is  wrong  to  disobey.” 
After  directing  attention  to  these  two 


42 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


characteristics  of  labor,  the  Encyclical 
says: 

“Now,  if  we  were  to  consider  labor 
merely  so  far  as  it  is  personal,  doubt- 
less it  would  be  within  the  -workman’s 
right  to  accept  any  rate  of  wages 
whatever;  for  in  the  same  way  as  he  is 
free  to  work  or  not,  so  he  is  free  to 
accept  a small  remuneration  or  none  at 
all.  But  this  is  a mere  abstract  sitypo- 
sition.  The  labor  of  the  workingman 
is  not  only  his  personal  attribute,  but  it 
is  necessary;  and  this  makes  all  the 
difference.  The  preservation  of  life  is 
the  bounden  duty  of  each  and  all,  and 
to  fail  therein  is  a crime.  It  follows, 
then,  that  each  one  has  a right  to  pro- 
cure what  is  required  to  live,  and  the 
poor  can  procure  it  in  no  other  way  than 
by  work  and  wages.” 

Wages  should  not,  therefore,  be 
measured  by  what  is  required  to  keep 
the  workingman  and  his  family  alive. 
The  Pope  has  no  faith  in  the  bread-and- 
water  theory,  or  in  the  scaling-down 
process  to  the  lowest  minimum  wages 
that  is  often  practiced  by  wealthy  cor- 
porations and  grasping  employers.  No; 
he  does  not  believe  in  this,  and  he  says 
so  in  unmistakable  language. 


SUPPLY  AND  DEMAND. 


43 


After  stating  that  it  is  usual  for  work- 
men and  employers  to  agree  or  make  a 
contract  as  to  wages,  and  under  all 
ordinary  circumstances  this  contract  is 
binding,  though  the  case  may  arise 
when  the  wage -earner  is  not  morally 
bound  to  stick  to  the  agreement,  the 
Pope  adds  : 

“ There  is  a dictate  of  nature  more 
imperious  and  more  ancient  than  any 
bargain  between  man  and  man,  that  the 
remuneration  must  be  enough  to  sup- 
port the  wage-earner  in  reasonable  and 
frugal  comfort 

And  equally  important  is  the  state- 
ment that  immediately  follows  this  : 

“ If,”  he  writes,  “ through  necessity 
or  fear  of  a worse  evil,  the  workman 
accepts  harder  conditions  because  an 
employer  or  contractor  wTill  give  him 
no  better,  he  is  the  victim  of  force  and 
injustice.” 

This  extract  from  the  Encyclical 
sets  before  us  the  true  basis  — and 
the  lowest  at  that  — upon  which  the 
rate  of  wages  is  to  be  computed. 
And  it  also  furnishes  an  answer  to 
those  who  cry  out  against  the  work- 


44 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


ingmen  who  sometimes  break  agree- 
ments into  which  they  had  been  forced 
by  fear  or  necessity  to  enter. 

The  laborer  is  not  a piece  of  ma- 
chinery to  be  purchased  at  the -least  pos- 
sible cost,  or  thrown  aside  as  worthless 
when  it  is  of  no  further  use.  Nor  is 
he  a mere  animal  needing  provision  for 
bodily  wants  only.  No,  he  is  infinitely 
higher  than  that  monstrous  conception 
which  the  materialistic  philosophy  of 
these  times  furnishes. 

He  is  a man,  with  God-given  facul- 
ties of  high  and  noble  dignity,  having 
the  most  sacred  relations  and  owing 
the  most  solemn  duties  to  his  Maker, 
and  having  spiritual  and  mental  aspira- 
tions that  require  to  be  satisfied  just 
as  much,  nay,  more,  than  the  wants  of 
the  body. 

He  should,  therefore,  have  the  means 
of  reasonably  meeting  these  wants. 
And  it  is  only  when  capitalists  and 
economists  get  this  true  idea  of  the 
workingman  that  the  wage  question, 
the  eight-hour  day  question,  Sunday 
work,  and  other  questions  can  be  fully 
settled. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


STARVATION  RATES  OF  WAGES A PRAC- 

TICAL ILLUSTRATION. 

OW,  let  us  take  a practical  example 


that  will  fully  illustrate  these  prin- 
ciples. 

In  Pennsylvania  there  are  thou- 
sands of  men  employed  in  the  coal 
mining  and  coke  region.  The  labor  of 
these  workers  is  hard,  unhealthy,  and, 
in  the  case  of  the  miners,  attended  with 
more  or  less  danger  to  life.  The  labor, 
especially  of  the  miner,  might  be 
classed  as  skilled.  Taking  account, 
therefore,  of  these  circumstances,  the 
wages  of  this  class  ought  to  be  such 
as  to  enable  the  miner  and  his  fam- 
ily to  live  in  “ reasonable  and  frugal 
comfort.” 

What  are  the  average  wages  paid 
in  the  bituminous  coal  districts  of 
Pennsylvania?  Perhaps  the  figures 
will  furnish  an  explanation  of  the  fre- 


45 


46 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


quent  strikes  in  the  mining  and  coking 
regions  which  have  been  attended  with 
much  loss  of  life  and  property. 

A bulletin  issued  by  the  Census  Su- 
perintendent shows  that  in  ,1889  the 
average  number  of  persons  in  the 
mines  of  Fayette  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  6,567.  The  total  amount  of 
wages  paid  was  $2,644,425.  This  is  an 
average  of  about  $420  a year  to  each 
person,  or  head  of  family,  or  about 
$1.35  a day.  And  from  this  is  to 
be  deducted  the  tolls  levied  in  the 
“Pluck-me”  stores  which  still  flourish 
in  the  coal  regions.  In  Westmore- 
land County,  the  same  State,  the  miners 
averaged  9,109  in  number,  and  were 
paid  in  wages  $4,064,950,  or  an  aver- 
age to  each  person  of  about  $445.  In 
Allegheny  County  the  sum  of  $3,497,- 
893  was  paid  to  9,386  miners,  or  an  an- 
nual average  to  each  miner  of  about 

$373. 

Anyone  examining  these  figures  must 
see  at  a glance  the  difficulties  the  head 
of  a family  has  to  meet  in  housing, 
feeding  and  clothing  himself,  wife  and 
four  or  five  children  on  a dollar  and 


STARVATION  WAGES. 


47 


thirty-five  cents  a day.  The  payment 
of  $373  a year,  which  is  the  rate  re- 
ceived by  the  average  miner  in  Alle- 
gheny County,  divided  in  a family 
where  there  are  five  persons  to  be  sup- 
ported, means  about  $75  to  each  person, 
or  a dollar  and  a half  a week.  Of  course, 
“reasonable  and  frugal  comfort,”  of 
which  Pope  Leo  XIII.  speaks  as  due  the 
laborer,  is  out  of  the  question  on  such 
compensation  as  this. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  census  calcu- 
lation was  based  on  the  average  wages 
paid  the  miner  within  the  year  and  not 
on  the  average  wages  received  while  the 
miner  was  actually  at  work.  If  the 
calculation  were  made  on  the  latter  basis, 
the  rate  would  be  much  higher. 

The  answer  is  that  the  miner  has  to 
support  himself  and  his  family  the  year 
round  on  what  he  earns  in  a year,  and 
this  is,  therefore,  the  proper  basis  on 
which  to  figure.  If  he  works  six  days 
and  earns  $15,  and  then  is  idle  six  days, 
his  average  daily  pay  for  the  twelve 
days  is  $1.25. 

Again,  it  is  said  that  the  miners  are 
themselves  largely  to  blame  for  their 


48 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


condition.  They  inaugurate  a strike  on 
little  or  no  cause  ; if  work  is  suspended 
in  the  mines  because^  of  excess  of  pro- 
duction or  dullness  in  the  coal  trade, 
the  miners,  as  a class,  will  ^remain  in 
idleness  for  months  rather  than  work  at 
anything  else  ; and,  lastly,  that  they 
are  improvident  and  generally  intem- 
perate in  their  habits.  Consequently, 
it  is  held,  they  themselves  are  in  a 
large  measure  responsible  for  their  hard 
lot. 

Whilst  it  must  be  admitted  that  there 
is  some  ground  for  these  charges,  the 
experience  of  the  writer  for  four  or 
five  years  as  resident  pastor  in  a mining 
district  proves  them  to  be  in  the  main 
unfounded.  I witnessed  a number  of 
strikes  and  I often  thought  that  the 
miners  lent  too  ready  an  ear  to  the  agi- 
tator or  the  advocate  of  violent  meas- 
ures ; I also  felt  that  thrift,  foresight 
and  a little  domestic  economy  would  do 
much  to  improve  their  surroundings  and 
make  their  homelife  more  enjoyable ; I 
saw  that  intemperance  worked  its  dread- 
ful havoc  here  as  elsewhere.  But  making 
the  most  ample  allowance  for  these 


STARVATION  WAGES. 


49 


things,  what  the  Holy  Father  aptly 
calls  “ the  cruelty  of  grasping  specu- 
lators ” in  human  labor,  supplies  the  true 
explanation  of  the  miners’  situation  to- 
day. And  it  is  useless  to  look  for  any 
improvement  as  long  as  the  ordinary 
operator  or  capitalist  sets  no  higher 
estimate  on  human  beings  than  mere 
instruments  for  making  money. 

Under  the  store  system  to  which  ref- 
erence has  already  been  made,  any 
coal  operator  cannot  fail  to  get.  rich  in 
a few  years,  if  he  employs  a large 
number  of  men — and  this  largely  at 
the  expense  of  the  miner.  I knew  a 
gentleman  who  having  failed  in  business 
in  one  of  our  large  towns  was  made 
superintendent  of  a coal  mine  by  the 
owners,  to  whom  he  was  related  by 
marriage.  He  opened  a company’s 
store  on  his  own  account  and,  with  the 
profits  from  this  store  and  an  ordinary 
salary,  he  was  able  to  retire  from  the 
mining  village  within  a few  years  a 
rich  man.  And  this  is  not  by  any  means 
an  isolated  instance.  The  history  of  the 
coal  region  will  furnish  many  similar 
cases. 

s.  P. — 4 


CHAPTER  IX. 


workingmen’s  societies  recognized 

BY  THE  CHURCH. 

protect  themselves  against  in- 
justice  of  this  sort ; to  maintain 
and  secure  the  highest  standard  of 
wages  that  the  worker  in  the  various 
departments  of  labor  is  entitled  to  ; to 
guard  their  sacred  rights  and  interests, 
the  Church  recognizes  and  encourages 
the  formation  of  workingmen’s  associ- 
ations or  societies. 

These  societies  the  Pope  would  wish 
to  see  fashioned  after  the  Catholic 
guilds  of  a former  day,  but  subject  to 
such  changes  as  the  requirements  of  this 
age,  custom  or  circumstances,  may  de- 
mand. 

What  those  who  have  the  real  interests 
of  labor  at  heart  must  do  is  to  place  at  the 
head  of  these  organizations  the  right  per- 
sons. Leaders  are  needed  of  the  highest 
and  strongest  character,  of  great  firmness, 
tact  and  superior  executive  ability  ; in 
50 


WORKINGMEN'S  SOCIETIES. 


51 


a word,  those  whose  aim  will  be  to  safe- 
guard the  interests  and  promote  the 
welfare  of  the  society  without  infringing 
on  the  rights  of  employers  or  others. 

Societies,  no  matter  what  the  avowed 
objects  may  be,  that  are  managed  by 
“invisible  leaders  and  on  principles  far 
from  compatible  with  Christianity  and 
the  public  well-being,”  must  be  avoided. 
And  the  rank  and  file  of  labor  organ- 
izations should  see  to  it  that  persons  of 
this  stamp  should  never  control  the 
society. 

We  all  know  how  much  suffering  and 
misery  have  been  brought  to  numberless 
workingmen’s  homes  through  the  false, 
and,  I do  not  hesitate  to  say,  wicked 
counsel  of  selfish  and  designing  leaders. 
It  is  the  influence  of  such  men  that  forces 
labor  organizations  to  adopt  and  try  to 
enforce  measures  that  are  unjust  and 
tyrannical.  By  the  enactment  of  these 
unjust  and  objectionable  methods, 
strife  and  ill  feeling  are  engendered,  and 
the  good  will  and  sympathy  of  the 
public  are  lost  at  times  when  the  cause 
of  labor  needs  the  strong  support  of 
public  sentiment. 


52 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


To  sum  up  the  teaching  of  our  Holy 
Father  the  Pope  on  this  subject  of 
labor  associations,  he  believes  in  the 
fullest  freedom  of  industrial  workers  to 
organize  for  mutual  self-help,  and  pro- 
tection ; he  would  have  all  labor  unions 
based  on  Christian  principles  and  kept 
under  the  restraint  of  religious  motives  ; 
and  he  would  have  the  most  devoted, 
disinterested  and  earnest  religious  men 
placed  at  the  head  of  these  unions. 

Industrial  organizations  of  which  both 
the  wage -earners  and  employers  shall 
be  members,  and  in  which  they  shall 
cooperate  for  the  promotion  of  friendly 
relations  with  each  other,  would  be  a 
step  in  the  right  direction.  Leo  XIII. 
has  given  expression  to  a strong  desire 
for  the  formation  of  such  bodies,  be- 
cause he  sees  what  has  been  confirmed 
by  experience,  that  where  conferences 
are  held  in  the  proper  spirit  between 
employers  and  employed,  the  best  re- 
sults follow.  Strikes  are  oftentimes 
prevented,  differences  and  disputes  are 
amicably  settled,  confidence  is  restored, 
and  a better  and  more  kindly  feeling 
established  all  around. 


WORKINGMEN'S  SOCIETIES. 


53 


This  method  of  conference  was  suc- 
cessfully followed  for  years  until  the 
Homestead  troubles  by  the  Amalga- 
mated Association  of  Iron  and  Steel 
Workers  of  Pennsylvania  in  arranging 
the  rate  of  wages,  the  hours  of  work, 
and  all  matters  of  importance  to  the 
men  or  the  mill  owners.  By  this  means 
strikes  are  averted,  and  it  would  be 
well  if  this  plan  for  adjusting  labor 
differences  were  more  generally  adopted 
in  all  kinds  of  industry  all  over  the 
United  States. 

As  long  as  the  present  wage  system 
exists,  it  is  the  simplest  and  most  effec- 
tive mode  of  settling  labor  disputes. 
And  should  conciliation  and  conference 
fail,  recourse  ought  to  be  had  to  arbi- 
tration. Better,  too,  to  arbitrate  in  the 
beginning  than  at  a late  stage  of  a pro- 
longed strike  or  lockout.  Strikes  are 
no  remedy  for  a labor  grievance.  They 
are  rather  a means,  and  oftentimes,  if 
not  in  all  instances,  a drastic  means  of 
directing  attention  to  a grievance.  In 
the  great  majority  of  strikes  the  strikers 
lose.  They  are  either  starved  into  sub- 
mission, or  provoked  by  the  capitalist 


54 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


into  deeds  of  violence  and  unlawful  con- 
duct, then  the  state  steps  in  and  helps 
to  end  the  strike. 

“ Everybody  can  see  that  strikers  are 
wrong,  not  only  when  they  resort  to 
arson  and  murder,  but  when  they  resort 
to  any  form  of  trespass  or  violence  or 
compulsion,  whether  physical  or  moral. 
But  preaching  to  strikers  against  a 
resort  to  extreme  measures  is  about  as 
silly  as  it  is  futile.  A strike  is  essen- 
tially a war ; and  war,  as  General  Sher- 
man was  wont  to  say,  is  hell.  Wars  and 
strikes  will  never  be  brought  under  rules 
and  regulations  that  will  transform  them 
into  Sunday  school  picnics.” 

But  let  it  not  be  thought  that  all  the 
worst  enemies  of  law  and  order  are  in 
the  tents  of  the  strikers. 

“ The  high-handed  outrages  that  have 
been  perpetrated  by  some  of  the  men 
who  find  shelter  in  the  entrenched  camp 
of  corporate  monopoly  are  more  detri- 
mental to  the  public  peace  and  welfare 
than  all  the  threats  of  the  extreme  social- 
ists and  all  the  crazy  performances  in 
the  name  of  Anarchy.  It  is  the  business 
of  the  state  to  assert  its  dignity  and  to 
bring  both  sets  of  disturbers  into  sub- 
ordination.” 


CHAPTER  X. 

CONDITION  OF  WORKING  WOMEN  AND 
GIRLS. 


OR  KING  women  and  girls  com- 


prise a large  and  growing  class  of 
wage-earners  whose  condition  and 
claims  have  until  quite  recently  been 
almost  entirely  ignored. 

Two  circumstances  have  contributed 
very  largely  to  the  opening  avenues  of 
employment  for  women  which  were  not 
dreamed  of  a quarter  of  a century  ago; 
first,  the  greed  of  men,  and  secondly, 
the  intelligent  cooperative  efforts  of 
women  to  force  the  doors  open. 

In  the  first  place,  in  the  increase  of  ma- 
chinery in  manufactures  and  the  multi- 
plication of  new  forms  of  employment, 
men  have  found  women  and  girls  to  be 
cheaper  and  more  profitable  and  more 
conscientious  in  certain  branches  of 
work. 

Hundreds  of  manufactures  are  em- 
ploying women  and  girls;  saleswomen 


55 


56 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


and  children  are  employed  in  great 
numbers  in  the  large  retail  stores  of  our 
cities;  whilst  the  professional  and  semi- 
professional  callings  have  a constantly 
increasing  representation  of  women. 
Until  very  recently  little  thought  was 
given  to  this  most  deserving  body. 
Working  women  were  helpless,  unpro- 
tected and  without  organized  union  for 
their  defense. 

From  a report  of  the  Commission  of 
Labor,  published  at  Washington  in 
1888,  on  the  subject  of  “Working  Wo- 
men in  Large  Cities,”  it  is  known  that 
the  average  earnings  of  13,822  women 
and  girls  are  $5.24  per  week.  Of  this 
number  373  earn  less  than  $100  a year, 
while  the  majority  of  the  above  number 
earn  a little  over  $200  per  annum. 

The  New  York  Sun  some  time  ago 

o 

carefully  investigated  the  condition  of 
New  York,  and  says  that  there  were 
then  40,000  working  women  of  that 
city  receiving  wages  so  low  that  they 
are  compelled  to  accept  charity  or 
starve. 

The  shopgirl  is  an  important  factor  in 
business  life,  an  essential  part  of  the 


WORKING  WOMEN. 


57 


running  gear  of  every  large  establish- 
ment. She  has  many  grievances,  but 
how  few  are  interested  in  righting  her 
wrongs!  Her  cheerful  endurance  is  a 
most  pathetic  protest  against  the  injus- 
tice of  her  lot;  her  triumph  over  the 
many  temptations  daily  besetting  her, 
commands  our  highest  admiration.  In 
every  great  city  of  America,  thousands 
of  weak,  young  girls  are  working  long 
hours,  oftentimes  under  unwholesome 
sanitary  conditions,  for  the  merest  pit- 
tance. What  hideous  possibilities  are 
suggested  as  a means  of  supplementing 
so  meagre  an  income. 

o 

There  are  numbers  of  children  under 
age  employed  for  excessive  hours,  and 
at  work  far  beyond  their  strength.  The 
wages  which  are  low,  are  made  still  lower 
by  excessive  fines.  The  salaries  of  sales- 
women range  from  $2.00  to  $18.00  a 
week,  but  the  latter  sum  is  only  paid  in 
very  rare  instances.  The  average  salary 
is  from  $4.00  to  $5.00  per  week.  Cash- 
iers receive  from  $6.00  to  $15.00,  the 
average  being  about  $9.00.  Cash  girls 
receive  from  $1.50  to  $2.50,  and  the 
latter  figure  is  rare.  The  fines  imposed 


58 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


for  a few  minutes’  tardiness  run  from 
five  to  thirty  cents. 

From  a careful  examination  of  the 
condition  of  saleswomen  in  New  York 
City,  this  conclusion  was  reached,  that 
through  low  wages,  long  hours,  un- 
wholesome sanitary  conditions  and  the 
discouraging  result  of  excessive  fines, 
not  only  the  physical  condition  is 
injured,  but — the  result  most  to  be 
deplored — the  tendency  is  to  injure  the 
moral  well-being. 

It  is  simply  impossible  for  any  woman 
to  live  without  assistance  on  the  small 
salary  a saleswoman  earns,  without  de- 
priving herself  of  the  real  necessities  of 
life. 

The  Holy  Father  pleads  for  this  class. 

“ Whenever,”  he  writes,  “ the  general 
interest  of  any  particular  class  suffers 
or  is  threatened  with  evils  which  can  in 
no  other  way  be  met,  the  public  au- 
thority must  step  in  to  meet  them.” 

The  social  doctrine  of  “ laissez  faire  ” 
finds  scant  favor  with  the  Pope.  He 
does  not  believe  in  it,  nor  does  he  de- 
sire that  anyone  else  should  accept  it 
either  in  theory  or  practice. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


INDUSTRIAL  SLAVERY. 

E now  come  to  treat  of  the  “ sweat- 


ing system,”  as  it  is  called,  the 
extent  and  horrors  of  which  few  people 
outside  of  those  unfortunates  who  are 
forced  to  live  under  it  can  realize.  It  is 
a system  of  industrial  slavery  whose 
cruelties  and  oppressions  make  those  of 
chattel  slavery  seem  merciful  in  com- 
parison. It  furnishes  a striking  instance 
of  the  workings  of  the  competitive  sys- 
tem of  industry  before  which  its  stout- 
est advocates  may  well  stand  appalled. 

Only  when  we  look  closely  at  the  dark 
side  of  the  picture  do  we  perceive  that 
our  modern  civilization,  wonderful 
though  it  be,  has  some  terrible  defects. 
We  see  that  the  raising  of  the  average 
standard  of  comfort  has  not  yet  availed 
to  banish  the  direst  poverty  and  dis- 
tress ; that  the  cleavage  of  classes  is  as 
wide  as  ever ; that  the  progress  in  edu- 
cation has  served  to  make  more  vivid 


59 


60 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


the  realization  of  the  defects  of  our 
social  system  ; and  that  the  condition 
of  large  masses  of  the  industrial  classes 
threatens  the  moral  and  physical  well- 
being of  society. 

When  examination  is  made  into 
the  kinds  and  conditions  of  labor 
carried  on  more  privately  in  homes,  we 
get  many  revelations,  and  here  and 
there  we  come  across  a fearful  record 
such  as  that  of  the  sweating  dens  to 
be  found  to-day  in  all  our  cities  of 
America.  We  blush  for  Christian  civ- 
ilization when  we  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  horrors  of  this  monstrous 
system. 

The  late  James  Russell  Lowell,  in  one 
of  his  poems,  “ The  Parable,  ” describes 
Christ,  our  Savior  coming  to  earth 
again  and  what  He  saw  when  He 
came.  After  telling  how  the  chief 
priests  and  rulers  and  kings  pointed  out 
to  Him  that  His  images  stood  sovereign 
to  all  throughout  the  land,  it  ends  as 
follows  : 

“ Our  Lord  sought  out  an  artisan, 

A low-browed,  stunted,  haggard  man ; 

And  a motherless  girl  whose  fingers  thin 
Pushed  from  her  faintly  want  and  sin. 


INI)  US TK1A L SLA  I rER  Y. 


61 


“ These  He  sat  in  the  midst  of  them, 

And  as  they  drew  hack  their  garments’  hem 
For  fear  of  defilement,  ‘ Lo  here,’  said  He, 

‘ Are  the  images  which  ye  have  made  of  me.’  ” 

The  work  that  is  done  in  the  sweat- 
ing dens  is,  for  the  most  part,  performed 
by  women  and  children.  It  is  the 
cheaper  grade  of  needle  work.  In 
these  “ sweating  ” shops  the  hours  of 
labor  are  from  7 a.  m.  to  7 P.  M.,  which 
means  that  in  the  winter  time  the  opera- 
tives never  see  daylight  outside  of  the 
wretched  dens  where  they  work. 

And  the  work  is  carried  on  under  the 
very  worst  sanitary  conditions.  The 
seeds  of  disease  and  death  are  sown  broad- 
cast ; there  is  a slow,  grinding,  horrible 
wasting  away  of  moral  and  physical 
strength ; even  life  itself  becomes  a 
burden  almost  too  heavy  to  be  endured; 
and  many  of  those  poor  creatures  look 
forward  to  death  as  a boon  that  will 
release  them  from  suffering.  It  is  a ter- 
rible comment  on  our  civilization  that 
such  a condition  of  things  can  exist. 


CHAPTER  XII.  „ 

THE  WRITER’S  EXPERIENCE. 


6)71  SHORT  time  ago,  accompanied  by 
] a physician,  the  writer  visited  one 
of  those  “sweating”  dens.  We  there 
found  a young  girl  at  work  on  men’s 
clothing.  Her  eyes  were  in  a most  ad- 
vanced state  of  disease  caused  by  the 
half  light  in  which  she  had  been 
working  for  the  last  year  and  a 
half.  The  physician  examined  her 
eyes  and  declared  that  within  a month 
or  two  she  would  become  totally  blind. 
Both  the  girl  and  her  employer  received 
this  information  with  a careless  shrug  of 
the  shoulders,  the  stoicism  of  utter 
misery  and  the  heartlessness  engendered 
by  an  industrial  system  that  puts  a 
lower  estimate  on  human  beings  than 
on  beasts  of  burden. 

The  writer  has  seen  six  girls  with 
sewing  machines  at  work  in  a small  hall 
bedroom  of  a tenement  house  with  only 
62 


THE  WRITER'S  EXPERIENCE. 


63 


one  window  opening  within  a few  feet 
of  a high  brick  wall.  Nor  is  it  a small 
number  who  are  working  under  such 
conditions. 

There  are  tens  of  thousands  of  such 
workers  in  all  our  larger  cities.  In 
New  York  and  Brooklyn  there  are 
seventy-five  thousand  sewing  women.  In 
Chicago  there  are  over  one  hundred 
thousand  women  who  are  supporting 
themselves  and  others  by  labor.  The 
majority  of  these  belong*  to  the  class 
that  we  are  considering — the  poor  sew- 
ing women.  Their  lot  is  sad,  indeed. 
The  wages  they  receive  is  a miserable 
pittance.  The  work  is  taken  by  con- 
tract, and  in  order  to  make  enough 
to  keep  body  and  soul  together  they  are 
forced  to  work  as  many  as  sixteen  or 
eighteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four. 

Think  of  it,  it  is  almost  incredible,  the 
mother  of  three  or  four  fatherless  chil- 
dren compelled  to  sew  sixteen  hours  a 
day  for  forty  cents,  getting  eighty 
cents  for  a lady’s  cloak,  which  the  em- 
ployer sells  for  $18.00,  or  fifty  cents  for 
making  a dozen  pairs  of  trousers,  or 


64 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


seventy-five  cents  for  making  fifteen 
shirts. 

Surely  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  the 
state  to  step  in  between  these  helpless 
women  and  their  greedy  employers. 

“ If,”  writes  Leo  XIII.,  “ employers 
impose  burdens  upon  those  who  work  for 
them  which  are  unjust,  or  degrade  them 
with  conditions  that  are  repugnant  to 
their  dignity  as  human  beings,  or  if 
health  be  endangered  by  excessive 
labor,  or  by  work  unsuited  to  age  or 
sex,  in  these  cases  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion that  it  would  be  right  to  call  in  the 
help  and  authority  of  the  law.” 

Another  point  to  which  attention 
ought  to  be  called  in  this  matter  is  the 
illiteracy  fostered  by  this  pernicious 
system.  The  laws  regulating  the  age 
of  children  at  work  in  mines  and  facto- 
ries are  utterly  disregarded  in  the  sweat- 
ing establishments. 

Thousands  of  children  are  growing 
up  in  those  sections  of  our  cities  where 
this  system  prevails,  who,  not  only  can- 
not read  or  write  English,  but  are  unable 
to  read  or  write  in  any  language.  And 
these  children  physically  deteriorated, 
neglected  in  their  morals,  degraded  by 


THE  WRITER'S  EXPERIENCE. 


65 


their  surroundings  and  deadly  sanitary 
conditions,  will  be  the  American  citi- 
zens of  the  future. 

It  is  difficult,  indeed,  to  keep  up 
one’s  faith  in  a millenium  within  sight 
of  our  modern  civilization  as  long  as 
that  civilization  is  marred  by  such  de- 
fects and  evils  as  we  have  been  con- 
sidering. It  is  well  to  remember  that 
the  highest  type  of  civilization  is  not 
that  which  produces  the  greatest  men  or 
the  most  wonderful  inventions  or  the 
greatest  wealth,  but  that  which  secures 
the  true  elevation  of  the  greatest  num- 
ber; that  which  lifts  up  and  protects  the 
weak  and  lowly;  that  which  provides 
for  the  well-being  and  comfort  of  the 
nation  as  a whole. 

The  Encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.  casts  a 
strong,  white  light  on  all  these  points 
that  are  raised  in  the  industrial  world. 
It  is  a message  of  peace  and  good  will 
to  all  men.  It  lays  down  the  eternal 
principles  of  right  and  justice  for  the 
guidance  of  rich  and  poor,  wage-earner, 
and  capitalist.  It  does  not  array  class 
against  class.  It  rather  points  out  the 
line  of  duty  for  each  to  follow,  while  it 
s.  P -5 


66 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


aims  to  establish  and  strengthen  right 
relations  between  labor  and  capital.  It 
is  a reassurance,  if  there  be  need  of  it, 
that  the  Church  is  the  friend  of  the 
wage-earner,  the  world  over;  and  that 
it  is  part  of  her  divine  mission  to  teach 
justice  and  charity  to  all  men. 


PART  II 

Socialism  and  Socialists 


(67) 


PART  II. 


Socialism  and  Socialists 

HHH 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

SOCIALISM  AN  IMPORTANT  SUBJECT ITS 

DEFINITION. 

/^TO-DAY,  whether  we  look  to  the  Old 
World,  or  the  New,  the  face  of 
society  is  sadly  troubled.  Everywhere  is 
manifest  a deep-seated  feeling  of  dissatis- 
faction with  the  existing  order  of  things. 
There  is  in  the  very  air  a wave  of 
social  unrest.  Men’s  minds  are  disturbed 
by  the  agitations  and  conflicts  arising 
out  of  our  social  conditions.  In  some 
quarters  are  plainly  visible  well-defined 
symptoms  of  approaching  convulsions. 
Outbreaks  and  deeds  of  violence  are  of 
almost  daily  occurrence  in  the  very 
heart  of  our  civilization. 

The  atmosphere  is  rent  with  the 
cries  of  Social  Democracy,  State  Social- 
ism, Christian  Socialism,  and  every  man- 

69 


70 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


ner  of  social  sentimentality  and  mysti- 
cism. Socialist  societies  are  establishing 
themselves  in  the  cities  and  in  our  col- 
leges ; Socialist  lectures  are  delivered  ; 
Socialist  discussions  promoted;  and  there 
are  already  in  every  civilized  country 
of  Europe  and  America  several  Socialist 
organs  in  the  weekly  and  monthly 
press,  conducted  with  a somewhat  bitter 
zeal,  and  counting  among  their  contrib- 
utors writers  of  acknowledged  ability. 

It  is  too  soon  to  say  what  may  come 
of  this  movement,  or  what  weight  ought 
to  be  assigned  to  it.  It  would  be  folly, 
however,  to  ignore  it.  Some  years  ago 
it  was  thought  that  Russia  was  pro- 
tected from  Socialism  by  her  rural  com- 
mune, and  Germany  by  her  lack  of 
manufacturing  industries.  Events  have 
shown  how  erroneous  was  this  view. 
We,  too,  may  possibly  cherish  a like 
error  if  we  fancy  ourselves  to  possess  a 
sure  protection  against  Socialism  in  the 
practical  character  of  our  people,  and 
our  habits  of  free  and  open  discussion. 

The  subject  of  Socialism  becomes, 
then,  one  of  living  interest,  and  we  run 
little  risk  of  over-rating  its  importance. 


SOCIA LISM  AN  IMPORTANT  SUBJECT.  71 

Leo  XIII.  has  said,  “ It  is  the  great 
question  of  our  times  ;”  and  in  truth  it 
is,  for  the  social  aspect  of  our  modern 
thought  lends  color  to  the  poetry,  the 
romance,  the  art,  the  literature,  the 
philosophy,  the  politics  and  the  religion 
of  the  age. 

Socialism  in  one  form  or  another  is 
the  chief  factor  in  the  forces  that  are 
silently  transforming  the  old  order,  and 
no  student  of  contemporary  events  can 
fail  to  be  interested  in  its  origin  and 
developments.  It  had  its  genesis 
amidst  the  war  and  fire  of  revolutionary 
struggle,  and  its  advance  has  been  met 
at  every  stage  by  the  fiercest  opposition. 

To  present  a comprehensive  view  of 
that  movement  which  is  designated  by 
the  general  term  “ Socialism  ” is  by  no 
means  an  easy  task  ; it  is  rather  diffi- 
cult to  define  the  subject-matter  which 
we  propose  to  discuss,  since  the  words 
“Socialism”  and  “Socialists”  have 
been  so  variously  applied,  with  mean- 
ings apparently  so  incompatible  that  it 
has  become  extremely  difficult  to  deter- 
mine for  them  a sense  which  would  be 
common  to  them  in  all  their  applica- 


72 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


tions.  There  is  the  political  or  revo- 
lutionary form  of  Socialism,  of  which 
there  are  several  forms  or  varieties  ; 
there  is  the  experimental  and  philan- 
thropic form,  which  spread  for  a time 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  but  is 
now  practically  extinct ; there  is  State 
Socialism,  which  proposes  to  deal  with 
social  questions  in  the  interests  of  the 
working  classes.  And,  as  there  is  a 
violent  and  irreligious,  so  there  is  a 
conservative  and  Christian  form  of  So- 
cialism, which  aims  at  removing  the  in- 
justice and  inequalities  that  exist  in  our 
modern  society,  and  looks  forward  with 
hope  to  the  establishment  of  a last- 
ing peace  and  harmony  between  the 
contending  elements  of  our  civiliza- 
tion. 

But,  in  the  prevailing  use  of  the  words 
there  is  generally  the  idea  that  the  social- 
istic movement,  no  matter  what  form  it 
takes,  is  undertaken  to  better  the  con- 
ditions of  the  less  fortunate  classes  of 
society.  The  end  aimed  at  is  to  make 
this  earth  that  for  so  many  is  a “step- 
mother, a true  mother  for  all  who  bear 
the  human  form.” 


SOCIALISM  AN  IMPORTANT  SUBJECT.  73 

And,  since  there  are  various  forms  of 
Socialism,  so  there  are  different  kinds  of 
Socialists.  Bakunin,  the  most  violent 
of  revolutionists,  is  sometimes  described 
as  a Socialist ; Count  Albert  de  Mun, 
the  most  conservative  and  scrupulous 
advocate  of  social  duties  as  interpreted 
by  Christian  law,  has  been  given  the 
same  name  ; Vaillant  and  Ravachol,  to 
whom,  doubtless,  the  highest  achieve- 
ment of  social  reform  would  be  the 
abolition  of  all  religion,  are  called 
Socialists  ; whilst  the  late  Cardinal 
Manning  and  our  own  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons, who  would  reform  society  by  in- 
culcating obedience  to  the  Gospel,  have 
been  sometimes  described  by  the  same 
term.  We  have  heard  the  term  applied 
to  the  chiefs  of  the  International  Labor 
Association,  as  well  as  to  some  of  our 
clergymen  and  philanthropists  who  are 
striving  in  various  ways  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  poor  in  our  large 
cities. 

When  the  Holy  Father  issued  his 
Encyclical  on  Labor  he  was  called  by 
capitalists  a “ Socialist,”  but  a type,  of 
course,  far  removed  from  the  author  of 


74 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


“ Progress  and  Poverty,”  whose  teach- 
ing that  document  refuted. 

It  would  seem,  at  first  sight,  then, 
that  there  is  absolutely  no  warrant  for 
the  use  of  a common  appellation  in  ref- 
erence to  men  and  movements  so  widely 
different  and  apart  in  motive  and  pur- 
pose. But,  when  the  subject  is  ex- 
amined a little  more  closely,  it  shall  be 
found  that  a certain  common  ground  is 
occupied  by  these  social  reformers, 
otherwise  so  much  opposed;  and  we  may 
well  suppose,  also,  that  those  who  place 
them  all  in  the  same  category,  and 
condemn  them  by  the  same  epithet,  are 
thinking  of  the  points  only  on  which 
they  agree,  more  or  less,  and  not  at  all 
of  the  more  numerous  and  important 
points  upon  which  they  differ. 

In  this,  all  who  style  themselves  “ So- 
cialists,” or  are  reproachfully  so  styled 
by  others,  are  agreed  that  the  present 
industrial  order  is  not  what  it  ought  to 
be,  and  that  social  changes  must  be 
effected  if  we  are  to  reach  an  improved 
state  of  society.  This  may  be  regarded 
as  the  negative  side  of  every  program 
which  can  be  described  as  Socialistic; 


SOCIALISM  AN  IMPORTANT  SUBJECT.  75 

and  it  is  this  aspect  of  the  subject  that 
has  led  the  advocates  of  the  existing 
order  to  confound  names  and  terms. 
When  we  look  to  the  positive  side  of 
the  movement  and  inquire  into  the 
nature  of  the  remedies  proposed  for  the 
evils  complained  of  in  the  present  in- 
dustrial system;  when  we  ask  Socialists 
what  they  would  substitute  for  the 
existing  system,  or  that  part  of  it  that 
they  condemn;  how  they  would  bring 
about  the  new  and  better  order  of  which 
they  speak,  we  find  that  they  are  at 
once  separated  into  distinct,  and  for  the 
most  part,  antagonistic  groups. 

In  examining,  however  briefly  and 
imperfectly,  the  elements  and  phases  of 
the  Socialistic  movement,  including  in 
that  term  everything  to  which  the  name 
is  currently  applied,  it  is  necessary  to 
notice:  First,  what  is  called  the  “ nega- 
tive aspect  of  Socialism;”  and  then  to 
give  some  account  of  the  more  impor- 
tant of  the  forms  it  takes  as  a positive  or 
reconstructive  movement;  with  what  new 
forms  of  society  it  seeks  to  replace  the 
old,  and  by  what  means  it  proposes  to 
effect  this  reconstruction. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


INDIVIDUALISM  AND  CAPITALISM. 

E begin  with  the  defects  of  our  ex- 


isting industrial  system,  against 
which  Socialism  is  a protest,  and  which 
it  strives  to  remove.  These  evils  may 
be  summed  up  under  two  heads,  Indi- 
vidualism and  Capitalism.  The  evils 
which  these  terms  signify  shall  be  best 
explained  by  referring  to  the  circum- 
stances in  which  the  words  had  their 
origin. 

About  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury an  infidel  school  of  philosophers 
in  France  began  to  assail  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  government;  they 
taught  this  doctrine:  That  society  is 

based  upon  a contract  freely  entered 
into  by  men  for  the  purpose  of  safe- 
guarding their  rights;  that  in  society 
man  voluntarily  limits  his  freedom  in 
order  to  enjoy  it  the  more  securely;  that 
society  is  the  creation  of  the  individual, 


76 


INDIVIDUALISM  AND  CAPITALISM.  77 

and,  therefore,  serves  its  purpose  only 
in  so  far  as  it  protects  the  individual  in 
the  exercise  of  his  rights  and  faculties. 
It  was  held  by  this  infidel  school  that, 
apart  from  his  own  purposes  and  his 
own  profit,  man  owed  no  obligation  to 
social  order,  nor  to  any  higher  power 
than  himself,  by  whom  that  order  may 
be  prescribed.  His  own  interests  were 
to  be  the  standard  and  measure  of  his 
duty  to  others.  The  expression  of  this 
doctrine  of  selfishness  as  the  basis  of 
social  life,  when  carried  into  the  polit- 
ical world  found  vent  in  the  terrible 
revolution  with  which  the  last  century 
closed. 

The  proclamation  of  the  rights  of 
man  was  the  logical  outcome  of  the 
theory  of  the  social  contract  and  its 
principles,  which  the  economists  of 
France,  as  well  as  her  philosophers, 
had  been  preaching  for  fifty  years. 
The  doctrine  appealed  with  telling 
force  to  popular  prejudice.  The  masses 
hailed  with  joy  the  new  freedom  con- 
ferred upon  them.  The  workman  shared 
in  largest  measure  of  the  new-born 
liberty;  he  was  suddenly  liberated  from 


78 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


the  restrictions  under  which  he  had  been 
placed  in  the  industrial  order  of  the  old 
regime;  the  guilds  and  associations  of 
handicraftsmen  were  suppressed;  labor 
became  a commodity  of  free  traffic, 
which  the  laborer  could  offer  in  any 
market  to  the  highest  bidder. 

But,  this  radical  change  introduced 
by  the  revolution  was  not  wholly  for 
good;  the  liberty  conferred  upon  the 
workman  was  not  an  unqualified  bles- 
sing. For,  while  he  was  declared  free 
to  dispose  of  his  labor  as  he  saw  fit,  this 
freedom  did  not  give  any  guarantee 
that  he  would  find  someone  to  accept  at 
its  value  the  labor  he  was  ready  to  offer. 
The  market  was  open  to  many  compet- 
itors, where  each  man  stood  alone,  and 
where  all  transactions  were  conducted 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  supply 
and  demand. 

Under  the  old  order,  the  guilds,  fos- 
tered and  encouraged  by  the  Church, 
had  regulated  the  labor  of  their 
members;  they  were  closely  united  by 
a community  of  interests  and  a fixed 
code  of  discipline;  they  had  corporate 
rights  in  the  industrial  system,  and  their 


INDIVIDUALISM  AND  CAPITALISM.  79 

influence  and  protection  reached  the 
weakest  member  of  the  association. 
Moreover,  the  workman  had  to  deal  im- 
mediately and  directly  with  the  master 
craftsman,  with  a member  of  his  own 
trade,  to  whom  he  was  bound  by  the 
fellowship  of  his  own  craft,  and  by  the 
laws  of  the  craft;  he  was,  therefore, 
bound  by  ties  which  were  to  a large  ex- 
tent an  extension  of  the  family  bond. 

What  was  his  condition  under  the  new 
order?  It  was  entirely  changed.  The 
workman  had  to  deal  directly  with  the 
employer,  with  a man  who  bought  his 
labor  at  the  lowest  figure ; who  took 
the  workman  into  his  employ  and  dis- 
missed him  pretty  much  as  he  would 
adopt  and  discard  a machine  ; and  who, 
when  he  had  paid  him  the  wages  agreed 
upon,  acknowledged  no  further  duty 
towards  him,  and  took  no  further  inter- 
est in  his  lot. 

The  workman  soon  discovered  that 
the  employer  was  in  the  fullest  en- 
joyment of  that  same  liberty  which 
he  himself  prized  so  much.  If  there 
was  liberty  to  sell,  there  must  be 
liberty  also  to  buy ; and,  in  a contest 


80 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


between  the  freedom  of  the  workman 
and  that  of  his  employer,  the  issue  was 
certain  that  disaster  must  overtake  the 
party  who  was  forced  to  sell  on  pain  of 
starvation,  while  there  was  no  over- 
powering penalty  or  pressure  on  the 
purchaser,  forcing  him  to  buy.  Thus 
the  principle  of  unrestricted  individual 
liberty  has  operated  in  the  industrial 
world.  And  this  is  the  meaning  of  the 
Individualism  of  which  we  hear  so 
much. 

The  doctrine  was  at  first  preached 
with  an  unbounded  faith  in  its  saving 
effects,  and  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
it  was  hailed  blinded  men  to  its  obvious 
defects.  It  was  not  seen  that  Individu- 
alism means  isolation  ; and  that  to  iso- 
late the  laborer  is  to  reduce  him  to 
helplessness ; that  he  is  the  weakest, 
though  by  no  means  the  least  important, 
member  of  the  social  body  ; and  that 
if  he  is  left  to  himself  he  is  sure  to  be 
crushed  by  the  stronger  forces  with 
which  he  will  be  brought  into  conflict. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


GROWTH  OF  CAPITALISM. 

LMOST  coincident  with  the  prac- 


tical application  of  the  principles  of 


Individualism  was  the  growth  of  Capi- 
talism. The  inherent  evils  of  the  indi- 
vidualistic economy  were  intensified  and 
developed  by  the  evils  of  Capitalism. 
Thus,  the  social  problem  became  still 
more  complicated,  and  so  continues  to 
the  present  time. 

About  the  middle  of  the  last  century 
began  to  rise  in  gigantic  proportions 
that  system  of  production  which  the 
French  call  la  grande  Industrie , and 
which  we,  for  want  of  a better  name, 
call  Capitalism. 

In  the  older  industrial  order,  pro- 
duction was  in  the  hands  of  a vast 
number  of  manufacturers.  The  guilds 
and  corporations  were  local  institu- 
tions; each  master  craftsman  was  a 
director  of  industry,  and  his  workshop 
S.  P— 6 81 


82 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


an  independent  center  of  production. 
But  a great  change  now  took  place. 
The  needs  of  the  growing  foreign  trade 
with  the  New  World,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  commercial  relations  with  the 
distant  countries  of  southern  Asia,  re- 
quired that  both  the  production  of  com- 
modities and  their  distribution  should  be 
undertaken  on  a large  scale;  that  great 
enterprises  should  be  promoted;  that 
the  means  of  carrying  on  these  enter- 
prises, that  is  capital,  should  be  concen- 
trated, placed  under  the  control  of  fewer 
hands,  and  its  application  directed  by  a 
smaller  number  of  highly  skilled  experts. 

Again,  to  these  new  conditions  others 
were  added.  There  came  the  discovery 
and  invention  of  improved  machinery, 
and  the  consequent  displacement  of 
thousands  of  busy  hands  and  brains. 
The  capital  which  had  heretofore  been 
dispensed  in  wages  to  workmen  could 
be  now  more  profitably  invested  in  ma- 
chinery and  the  output  of  manufacture 
be  wonderfully  increased. 

It  was  also  pointed  out  by  writers 
like  Adam  Smith,  that  great  advantages 
would  result  to  capitalists  from  massing 


GROWTH  OF  CAPITALISM. 


83 


their  capital  and  carrying  on  their  pro- 
ductive operations  on  the  largest  scale 
possible;  the  savings  in  buildings,  in 
taxes,  in  wages  of  superintendence,  and 
numerous  other  gains  which  would  fol- 
low the  policy  of  concentration. 

The  owners  of  capital  were  at  once  alive 
to  their  interests.  W e have  witnessed  the 
vast  accumulation  of  capital  in  almost 
every  department  of  industry.  Millions 
of  dollars  are  invested,  and  a large  army 
of  men  are  controlled  by  a single  cor- 
poration. The  Carnegie  interests  of 
Pittsburg  employ  23,000  hands,  which 
means  that  over  a hundred  thousand 
souls  are  more  or  less  dependent  upon  a 
single  individual.  No  mediaeval  baron 
was  in  his  palmiest  days  more  powerful 
than  our  modern  coal  or  iron  “ king.” 

The  business  of  manufacture  to-day  is 
mostly  conducted  by  powerful  corpora- 
tions and  managed  by  a small  number 
of  skilled  men.  The  owners  of  the 
capital,  if  they  do  not  choose  to  take 
part  in  the  industry,  can  sit  at  home  or 
enjoy  themselves  abroad,  with  the  assur- 
ance that  their  dividends  will  be  revu- 
larly and  promptly  paid  them. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORKMAN. 


EANWHILE,  how  does  the  work- 


man fare  ? He  was  now  more 


completely  a chattel,  the  victim  of  de- 
mand and  supply,  than  ever  before. 
He  had  no  longer  to  deal  with  an  em- 
ployer who  was  himself  a craftsman, 
and  with  whom,  apart  from  any  kind 
of  trade  fellowship  or  organization,  he 
could  treat  as  with  a creature  endowed 
with  human  sympathies,  and  amenable 
to  the  instincts  of  human  compassion. 
He  had  now  to  do  with  a trading  or 
manufacturing  company,  with  an  im- 
personal entity  which  dealt  with  him 
according  to  the  laws  of  the  market  in 
all  their  rigor ; from  which  he  could 
expect  no  sympathy ; which  bought 
from  him  the  supply  of  muscular  or 
mental  labor  that  he  could  furnish,  but 
which  took  no  thought  for  his  needs, 
and  had  no  concern  for  his  misfortunes. 


84 


CONDITION  OF  THE  WORKMAN . 


85 


Soon  the  great  corporations  became 
not  merely  the  purchasers  of  the  work- 
man’s labor,  but  the  arbiters  of  his 
existence  as  well. 

Capital  had  taken  such  an  important 
place  in  the  economy  of  production  that 
it  possessed  the  power  of  setting  the 
processes  of  production  in  motion,  or 
bringing  them  to  a standstill,  at  pleas- 
ure. The  artisan  could  not  work  unless 
the  wheels  of  the  great  machines  re- 
volved, and  it  depended  upon  the 
owners  whether  they  should  revolve  or 
not.  If  there  was  a prospect  of  gain  for 
the  owner  they  turned,  and  the  work- 
man was  paid  what  his  labor  was 
worth  ; if  the  prospect  of  gain  ceased, 
the  wheels  became  stationary  and  the 
workman  starved. 

Again,  the  constant  inventions  which 
improved  and  multiplied  the  mechanisms 
of  manufacture,  increased  the  instability 
of  the  workman’s  position,  and  not  un- 
frequently  added  to  his  hardships.  The 
introduction  of  a new  machine  enabled 
the  capitalist  to  dispense  at  a stroke  with 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  his  “ hands,” 
and  as  the  “ hands”  were  to  him  noth- 


86 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


ing  more  than  machines  which  had 
been  superseded  by  the  new  invention, 
he  dismissed  them  without  scruple,  and 
without  regret.  There  might  not  be  any 
other  employment  for  them,  any  other 
resource  than  starvation  or  public 
charity ; but  that,  after  all,  was  a mat- 
ter that  did  not  specially  concern  him. 
The  principle  of  “ natural  liberty”  left 
every  man  to  do  for  himself  as  he  found 
it  best  for  his  interests  ; the  capitalist 
had  to  take  the  course  most  profitable 
to  himself  ; if  he  did  not,  he  would  soon 
be  left  behind  in  the  race  by  his  less 
scrupulous  competitors. 

Furthermore,  the  capitalist  was  in  a 
position  to  make  his  own  terms.  The 
competition  for  work  enabled  him  to 
force  down  the  price  at  which  he 
bought  his  labor  supply  ; and,  as  the 
law  of  demand  and  supply  was  the  only 
law  that  he  felt  called  upon  to  acknowl- 
edge, he  forced  it  down  as  low  as  the 
competition  would  permit  him.  It  was 
not  a question  to  him  of  the  intrinsic 
value  of  the  work  of  the  laborer  ; the 
question  was,  what  were  the  lowest 
terms  which  the  applicant  for  work 


CONDITION  OF  THE  WORKMAN. 


87 


would  be  forced  to  accept  under  the 
prevailing  conditions  of  the  labor 
market. 

It  is  needless  to  point  out  that  in  this 
condition  of  things  the  advantage  in  the 
labor  contract  was,  for  the  most  part,  on 
the  side  of  capital.  It  could  not  be 
otherwise.  The  gains  of  the  capitalists 
from  the  processes  of  industry  grew  ex- 
travagantly, without  any  proportionate 
improvement  in  the  condition  of  the 
workers  ; huge  fortunes  were  accumu- 
lated by  the  investors  of  capital,  and, 
side  by  side  with  the  luxury  and  mag- 
nificence which  these  fortunes  main- 
tained, the  destitution  and  demoraliza- 
tion of  the  poor  reached  vast  and  appall- 
ing  proportions. 

From  a “ Report  on  the  Condition  of 
Working  Women  in  New  York  Retail 
Stores,”  facts  are  set  forth  from  which 
this  conclusion  is  arrived  at  : that  “ it  is 
simply  impossible  for  any  woman  to 
live,  without  assistance,  on  the  low 
salary  a saleswoman  earns,  without  de- 
priving herself  of  the  real  necessaries  of 
life  ; ” and  cases  might  be  cited  “ where 
frail,  delicate,  refined  women,  unable  to 


88 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


live  on  the  salaries  that  they  earn,  are 
forced  to  crime  or  suicide.”  The  pa- 
thetic story  of  the  saleswoman  who 
threw  herself  from  an  attic  window  of  a 
New  York  lodging  house,  is  the  story  of 
many  another  in  our  large  cities.  It  is 
thus  that  our  great  merchant  princes  are 
created. 

How  strikingly  apt  to  our  times  are 
the  words  of  Goldsmith  : 

“ 111  fares  the  land  to  hastening  ills  a prey  ; 

Where  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay.” 

To  this  consummation  the  twin  prin- 
ciples of  Individualism  and  Capitalism 
had  led  in  due  time  ; this  was  the  result 
which  the  political  doctrine  of  unstinted 
liberty  and  that  economic  policy  of  un- 
qualified industrial  freedom  brought 
forth  for  the  laborer  whom  the  states- 
men and  economists  had  undertaken  to 
emancipate.  It  is  against  the  evils  thus 
produced  that  Socialism,  in  all  its  forms, 
salutary  or  dangerous,  Christian  or  irre- 
ligious, protests,  and  it  is  these  evils 
that  it  seeks  to  redress. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


REVOLT  AGAINST  CAPITALISM. 


p7]  S it  was  in  France  the  new  doctrine 
/ of  absolute  industrial  liberty  was 
first  proclaimed,  so  there,  too,  the  first 
voice  of  rebellion  was  raised  against  it. 
At  the  time  when  liberty  was  declared 
the  inalienable  right  of  every  man, 
Baboeuf  came  forward  to  announce  the 
claim  of  the  poor  on  the  riches  of  the 
wealthy,  the  equal  rights  of  all  men  to 
the  earth  and  its  products.  The  French 
Directory  was  not  prepared  to  accept 
this  extension  of  the  rights  of  man,  and 
imposed  silence  rather  summarily  on  its 
author  by  means  of  the  guillotine. 

Fourier,  St.  Simon  and  Cabet 
preached  the  doctrine  of  the  equal 
rights  of  man  in  the  matter  of  temporal 
possessions;  they  founded  committees  to 
illustrate  the  working  of  their  plans  for 
the  regeneration  of  society.  We  have 
had,  and  still  may  have,  a few  of  these 

89 


90 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


societies  in  the  United  States.  The 
Brook  Farm  Association  was  established 
on  this  idea.  But  the  teachings  of 
this  group  of  Socialists  never  had  a very- 
strong  hold  on  the  popular  mind.  The 
plan  of  giving  every  man,  whatever  be 
his  deserts,  an  equal  claim  with  his  fel- 
lows on  the  products  of  the  general  la- 
bor, is  so  absurd,  so  utterly  destructive 
of  all  industrial  effort  that  the  good  sense 
of  the  masses  may  be  relied  upon  to 
scout  it.  The  formula,  “from  each 
man  according  to  his  capacity,  to 
each  man  according  to  his  needs” 
can  find  favor  only  with  the  idle  and 
dissolute  who  would  prey  on  the  labor 
of  others. 

It  may  be  said  that  this  group  of  So- 
cialists aimed  at  nothing  less  than  the 
completion  of  the  work  of  Voltaire, 
Rousseau  and  Adam  Smith. 

Thus  Socialism  may  be  well  regarded 
as  the  legitimate  offspring  of  two  great 
revolutions  ; of  the  industrial  revolution, 
which  began  to  establish  itself  in  Eng- 
land towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  of  the  parallel  revolution 
in  thought,  which,  at  about  the  same 


REVOLT  AGAINST  CAPITALISM. 


91 


time,  found  its  most  prominent  expres- 
sion in  France. 

It  is,  indeed,  a matter  of  surprise  to 
find  in  England  in  the  early  part  of  this 
century,  a thoughtful,  practical  man  of 
business,  such  as  Robert  Owen  was,  ad- 
vocating and  putting  into  practice 
theories  cognate  to  those  of  St.  Simon. 
Owen’s  Communism,  it  may  be  said, 
was  the  outcome  of  human  sympathy 
for  the  distress  and  miseries  of  the  poor 
which  the  new  Industrialism  had  en- 
tailed. 

Robert  Owen  was  the  son  of  a work- 
ingman, born  in  Montgomeryshire  in 
1771.  By  his  industry  and  commercial 
capacity,  he  rose  to  be  the  chief  owner 
of  large  mills  in  which  fifteen  hundred 
hands  were  employed.  The  sufferings 
of  the  workers  moved  his  compassion, 
and  in  his  zeal  for  their  well-being,  he 
made  them  partners  with  himself  in  the 
ownership  of  the  mills.  The  success  of 
this  scheme  of  cooperation  led  him  to 
the  study  of  the  labor  question  as  a 
whole.  Unfortunately  for  his  theories, 
he  imitated  St.  Simon  in  his  rejection  of 
religion,  and,  unfortunately  for  his 


92 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


good  sense,  he  imitated  Cabet  in  his 
attempt  to  found  Communistic  societies. 
His  schemes  came  to  naught,  as  all  such 
schemes  must  do,  and  he  died  in  obscu- 
rity and  poverty,  after  a long  life  of 
struggle  against  that  industrial  system 
which  he  held  to  be  iniquitous  and  op- 
pressive to  the  poor. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


ANARCHY  AND  ITS  LURID  GOSPEL. 

NEW  and  more  violent  form  of 


Socialism  was  put  forward  in  the 


schemes  of  Bakunin  and  Proudhon;  by 
these  extremists  Anarchy,  pure  and 
simple,  was  advocated  as  the  only  means 
by  which  to  redress  the  evils  of  society. 

Bakunin  was  a Russian,  whose  ad- 
vanced opinions  brought  about  his  early 
exile  from  Russia,  and  who  spent  his  life 
exciting  the  labor  masses  of  Europe  to 
a war  against  the  existing  social  order. 
His  “ Catechism  of  Revolution  ” lays 
down  the  principles  on  which  the  An- 
archists of  the  Old  World  and  the  New 
have  since  been  acting: 

“The  revolutionist,”  he  says,  “is  a 
consecrated  man;  he  has  no  personal 
interests,  no  feelings,  no  business,  no 
preferences,  no  possessions,  not  even  a 
name.  All  within  him  is  absorbed  by 
one  exclusive  purpose,  by  one  thought 
and  passion — revolution.  Not  in  his 


93 


94 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


works  and  acts  merely,  but  in  the  very 
depth  of  his  being  he  has  separated  him- 
self forever  from  public  order,  from  the 
entire  civilized  world,  from  the  laws, 
customs,  morals  and  manners  recog- 
nized by  the  world.  ...  A revolu- 
tionist does  not  find  his  place  in  any 
class  of  society;  he  lives  in  society  only 
in  the  expectation  of  its  prompt  and 
complete  destruction.  If  any  object  in 
the  world  has  value  in  his  eyes,  he  is  no 
revolutionist.  He  must  not  shrink  from 
the  destruction  of  any  institution,  of  any 
bond  of  friendship,  or  of  any  man  who 
inhabits  this  earth.” 

And  so  on  through  many  pages  of  a 
lurid  gospel  of  destruction. 

Proudhon  is  not  quite  so  sanguinary 
in  his  teachings,  but  the  scope  of  his 
social  doctrine  is  the  same:  Anarchy, 
freedom  from  all  order,  from  everything 
that  bears  the  name  of  law. 

These,  it  will  be  understood,  are  not 
theories  which  can  captivate  the  minds 
of  the  people,  or  which  have  any  chance 
of  general  acceptance;  they  are  noticed 
merely  as  protests  against  the  existing 
industrial  order. 

It  was  not,  however,  from  England, 
nor  Russia,  nor  France  that  the  Socialism 


ANARCHY  AND  ITS  LURID  GOSPEL . 95 

came  that  was  destined  to  establish  it- 
self in  Europe  and  America  as  a power 
which  baffles  princes  and  statesmen,  and 
which,  being  unable  to  conquer,  they 
are  now  seeking  to  conciliate.  Scien- 
tific Socialism  in  all  its  forms,  is  of 
German  growth,  the  creation  of  the 
German  mind,  and  has  spread,  as  a power 
to  be  reckoned  with,  mainly  through 
German  influence.  In  no  country  has 
the  social  problem  been  more  deeply 
studied  than  in  Germany.  There, 
thoughtful  minds  from  the  beginning  of 
the  new  industrial  order  have  made  a 
systematic  study  of  the  question. 

Thunen,  Weitling,  and  Karl  Mario 
are  known  for  their  bold  specula- 
tions on  the  conditions  of  modern 
industry,  and  for  the  drastic  remedies 
which  they  proposed  for  existing 
economic  evils.  Robertus,  son  of  a 
Pomeranian  gentlemen,  began  fifty  years 
ago  the  study  of  the  condition  of  the 
working  classes,  and  did  much  to  direct 
attention  to  this  question  which  now 
ranks  amongst  the  most  important  sub- 
jects of  the  day.  But  Robertus  was 
merely  a student  and  he  never  attempted 


96 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


to  put  his  theories  into  practice.  His 
teaching,  too,  was  desultory  and  defec- 
tive, presenting  no  comprehensive  scheme 
for  the  cure  of  the  evils  that  he  con 
demned.  It  was  reserved  for  another 
German,  a man  of  quite  a different  cast 
and  temper,  to  devise  and  establish  a 
system  of  Socialism  which  has  had  a 
powerful  influence  on  the  social  and 
political  life  of  Germany,  reaching  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  German  Empire. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


KARL  MARX  AND  HIS  THEORIES. 


iRL  MARX  was  born  at  Treves,  in 


the  Rhine  Province,  in  the  year 


1818.  He  was  a Jew  by  descent,  al- 
though his  parents  had  renounced  the 
synagogue  in  order  to  secure  certain 
temporal  advantages  not  then  accessi- 
ble to  persons  of  Jewish  birth.  A bril- 
liant career  at  the  bar,  or  in  the  public 
service  was  open  to  him,  but  he  gave 
himself  to  literature.  His  public  criti- 
cism of  the  Prussian  government  drew 
upon  him  its  hostility,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  seek  refuge  aboard.  His 
teachings  and  machinations  made  him  a 
danger  to  almost  every  government 
under  which  he  settled;  and  at  last 
London  was  the  only  place  in  Europe 
in  which  he  could  carry  on  securely  the 
propaganda  of  the  system  which  he 
founded. 

Marx  was  a man  of  singular  ability, 
an  acute  reasoner,  with  a cogent  power 
s.  P.-7  97 


98 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


of  stating  arguments  and  enforcing  his 
conclusions.  His  great  work,  the  store- 
house of  the  literature  of  Socialism,  is 
his  book  on  44  Capitalism.” 

The  key  to  the  whole  system, developed 
in  this  remarkable  work,  is  to  be  found 
in  the  author's  notion  of  “surplus  value.” 
A few  words  will  explain  the  importance 
of  this  much  employed  term.  Competi- 
tion among  laborers  forces  them  to  ac- 
cept  from  the  capitalist  the  lowest  rate 
of  remuneration  compatible  with  mere 
subsistence.  In  other  words,  the  market 
value  of  the  laborer’s  day  of  toil  is  rep- 
resented by  the  sum  which  will  suffice 
to  maintain  himself  and  his  family. 
Thus,  if  a laborer  work  twelve  hours 
a day,  the  market  value  of  his  toil  is 
represented  by  the  commodities  which 
are  necessary  to  maintain  himself  and 
his  family  for  the  day,  that,  in  fact,  is 
all  that  he  receives  for  his  labor.  But 
the  value  of  these  commodities  is 
created  by  much  less  than  twelve  hours’ 
toil;  let  us  say  by  six  or  by  three.  In  six 
hours  the  laborer  has  done  work  equiv- 
alent in  value  to  all  the  commodities  he 
consumes,  that  is,  equivalent  to  the 


KARL  MARX  AND  HIS  THEORIES.  99 

wages  paid  him;  the  remaining  six  hours, 
create  surplus  value,  that  is,  go  to  his 
employer,  without  remuneration  to  him. 

The  aim  of  Marx  was  to  devise  a system 
under  which  the  surplus  value  should 
be  secured  to  the  toiler;  and  he  could 
find  no  other  plan  adequate  to  this  pur- 
pose than  to  transfer  to  the  democratic 
state,  that  is,  to  the  representative  of  the 
laborers  themselves,  the  whole  mechan- 
ism of  production,  the  land  from  which 
all  products  are  derived,  and  the  capital 
which  enables  labor  to  utilize  the  re- 
sources of  the  land.  State  ownership  of 
land  and  capital  was,  accordingly,  the 
remedy  which  he  prescribed  for  the 
evils  which  oppressed  the  laboring 
masses — state  ownership,  be  it  noted, 
in  a state  strictly  democratic,  in  which 
the  public  authorities  would  be,  in  the 
true  sense,  representatives  of  the 
people. 

To  compass  the  social  revolution 
which  should  permit  the  introduction  of 
his  system,  Marx  availed  himself  of  the 
International  Workmen’s  Association. 
It  was  founded  in  1862,  and  for  ten 
years  was  controlled  and  guided  in  its 


100 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


operations  by  Karl  Marx.  In  1872  it 
broke  up  into  sections,  and  henceforth 
the  several  nationalities  represented  in 
it  carried  on  their  operations  independ- 
ently. But  the  doctrines  of  Karl  Marx 
still  remained  the  doctrines  of  the 
divided  sections  and  the  scope  of  the 
International  remained  the  scope  of  the 
divided  parts. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


LA  SALLE  AND  HIS  CAREER FRENCH 

SOCIALISTS. 

ARL  MARX  had  a diligent  and  en- 


thusiastic disciple  in  La  Salle,  who 
preached  the  doctrines  of  the  Socialistic 
gospel  with  extraordinary  ardor  and 
extraordinary  ability.  He  became  the 
oracle  and  idol  of  the  working  classes 
in  Germany. 

Ferdinand  La  Salle  was  also  a Jew. 
He  was  born  in  Breslau  in  1825  and 
killed  in  a duel  at  Geneva  in  1864.  Of 
his  short  life  he  gave  no  more  than  the 
last  three  years  to  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  of  Socialism.  The  remainder  of 
his  career  was  devoted  to  studies  of  va- 
rious kinds,  or  consumed  in  adventures, 
at  times  surprising,  and  at  times  scan- 
dalous in  character.  He  came  before 
the  public  as  counsel  for  the  Countess 
Von  Hatzfeldt  in  a divorce  suit  against 
her  husband. 


101 


102 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


His  eloquence,  his  enthusiasm,  his 
reckless  defiance  of  all  that  was  respect- 
able and  conservative  in  German  society, 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  people; 
and  when  he  took  up  their  case  they 
listened  to  his  fervid  periods  as  to  the 
words  of  a savior  of  society. 

In  July,  1864,  he  met  the  daughter 
of  a Bavarian  diplomatist  at  the  Hotel 
du  Rigi,  offered  her  his  hand,  and  was 
accepted.  But  the  parents  of  the  lady 
objected  to  an  alliance  with  the  arch- 
agitator; and  the  young  lady,  disap- 
pointed with  La  Salle’s  refusal  to 
elope  with  her,  accepted  a husband 
agreeable  to  her  parents’  wishes.  La 
Salle  challenged  his  successful  rival, 
and  fell  in  the  duel  which  ensued. 

His  death  was  mourned  by  the  work- 
ing masses  of  Germany  as  a national  disas- 
ter; the  homage  paid  to  his  remains  fell 
but  little  short  of  worship,  and  some- 
thing like  a cult  to  his  memory  was 
created  and  maintained  by  his  followers. 

At  his  death  the  practical  policy  of 
democratic  Socialism  had  been  initiated 
in  Germany.  The  plan  had  been 
- adopted  of  educating  the  voting  masses 


LA  SALLE  AND  IIIS  CAREER. 


103 


in  the  principles  of  the  new  economy;  of 
securing  by  the  votes  of  the  masses  thus 
educated  a position  of  power  in  the  leg- 
islature, and  ultimately,  if  it  might  be, 
the  control  of  the  government.  This 
policy  has  been  adhered  to,  and  worked 
out  with  marvelous  persistence.  In 
spite  of  persecution  without,  and  divi- 
sion and  dissension  within,  the  Socialist 
propaganda  has  gone  steadily  forward; 
newspapers  have  been  founded,  clubs 
and  societies  set  up,  and  great  masses  of 
the  people  won  over  to  democratic  So- 
cialism. It  has  steadily  added  to  its 
strength  in  the  German  Parliament,  and 
at  every  succeeding  election  has  in- 
creased the  number  of  its  representatives, 
until  to-day  the  Socialists  are  a powerful, 
well-knit  party  in  the  Reichstag. 

The  French  Socialists  have  borrowed 
the  methods  as  well  as  the  theories  of 
La  Salle.  They,  too,  have  been  able  to 
return  their  candidates  to  the  Chamber, 
defeating  ministers  and  ex-ministers  at 
the  polls.  To-day  the  extreme  doc- 
trines of  social  reform  have  between 
140  and  150  representatives  in  the 
French  Chamber  of  Deputies. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


, SOCIALISM  IN  ENGLAND  AND  THE  UNITED 
STATES. 

IN  England  more  so  than  in  any  other 
country,  the  growth  of  democratic  So- 
cialism has  been  within  the  last  few  years 
rapid,  and  is  constantly  increasing.  It 
has  absorbed  Trades-Unionism.  It  also 
has  its  representatives  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  its  purpose  is  to  increase 
and  control  its  Parliamentary  support- 
ers. At  the  Belfast  Trades  Congress, 
held  September,  1893,  by  a vote  of  137 
to  92  it  was  resolved  that  “ candidates 
receiving  financial  assistance  must 
pledge  themselves  to  support  the  prin- 
ciples of  collective  ownership  and 
control  of  all  the  means  of  production 
and  distribution,  and  the  labor  program 
as  agreed  upon  from  time  to  time  by 
the  Congress.” 

This  resolution  clearly  indicates  the 
Socialistic  and  political  trend  of  the 
Trades-Unionism  in  Great  Britain.  It 


104 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  UNITED  ST  A TES.  105 

is  true  some  of  the  labor  leaders  would 
prefer  to  call  the  system  here  adopted 
“ Collectivism  ” rather  than  Socialism  ; 
but  this  is  merely  a matter  of  names. 
Collective  ownership  of  the  sources  and 
means  of  production  implies  ownership 
by  the  state  ; and  when  the  state  is 
democratic,  the  system  resolves  itself 
into  democratic  Socialism. 

Hitherto  America  has  in  the  main 
repelled  Socialism.  There  has  been 
here  comparatively  little  distress  or 
complaint.  Every  man  with  a sound 
pair  of  hands  and  willing  to  work  has 
had  property,  or  the  hope  of  it,  and  has 
been  on  the  property  owner’s  side. 
Men  have  been  satisfied  with  a fair  start 
under  equal  law,  and  thought  that  a 
man  in  doing  the  best  for  himself  did 
the  best  for  all.  The  inequalities  of 
wealth,  as  a general  rule,  have  not  been 
too  shocking,  while  great  fortunes  made 
by  men  who  have  risen  from  the  ranks 
have  rather  flattered  the  hopes  of  those 
still  in  the  ranks  than  excited  their  envy 
or  hatred. 

Industrial  promotion  has  been  far 
easier  than  it  is  in  the  old  countries,  nor 


106 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS . 


lias  the  social  line  between  employer 
and  employed  been  so  sharply  drawn. 
Owenism  was  imported,  and  it  expired 
like  a match  dipped  into  the  river.  But 
with  the  influx  of  foreign  wage-earners 
have  now  come  the  angry  organizations, 
the  incendiarism,  the  strikes,  the  labor 
wars  of  Europe  ; and  Pittsburg  and 
Chicago  have  witnessed  scenes  as  alarm- 
ing as  the  worst  industrial  conflicts  of 
the  Old  World.  The  masses  of  wage- 
earning mechanics  in  which  labor  wars 
are  bred  have  increased,  and  the  gulf 
has  been  widened  between  employer 
and  employed. 

Still,  this  continent  is  comparatively 
unsocialistic.  An  envoy  of  English  dis- 
content having  come  on  a mission  of 
disturbance,  goes  away  disappointed, 
saying  that  the  American  workman  is  a 
wretch  whom  no  sense  of  wrongs  can 
rouse  to  vengeance.  Anarchism  no 
sooner  kindles  its  torch  than  it  finds 
itself  in  jail  with  the  cordial  approba- 
tion of  honest  labor.  The  fabulous 
circulation  of  “ Looking  Backward  ” 
means,  as  Mr.  Gillman  truly  says, 
very  little.  In  fact  it  means  little 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  UNITED  STATES.  107 

more  than  the  fabulous  circulation  of 
“ Trilby.” 

It  is  true  that  in  the  mining  and  mill- 
ing districts  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  fac- 
tory towns  of  New  Jersey  and  Massa- 
chusetts, circulars  like  the  following 
have  been  distributed  by  promoters  of 
disorder: 

“We  wage  war  against  private  prop- 
erty, against  the  state,  against  the 
Church — a war  having  for  its  object 
their  utter  annihilation.  We  repudiate 
the  institution  of  private  property  be- 
cause its  history  is  the  history  of  all 
human  suffering.  So  long  as  private 
property  prevails,  there  will  be  rich  and 
poor,  but  the  latter  will  be  dependent 
on  the  former.  Whoever,  therefore,  is 
truly  striving  for  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind at  large,  must  join  us  in  the  cry, 
‘Down  with  private  property.’” 

And  the  demands  of  a less  advanced 
section  are  formulated  in  the  following : 

“ That  all  laws  for  the  good  of  labor 
be  strictly  enforced  ; that  eight  hours 
be  considered  a working  day  ; that  no 
children  under  fourteen  years  be  permit- 
ted to  work;  that  the  contract  system  for 
public  works  be  abolished  ; that  the 
convict  labor  system  be  done  away 


108 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS . 


with  ; weekly  payment  of  wages,  and 
no  more  truck  stores  ; enforcement  of 
the  lien  law  for  the  enforcement  of 
unpaid  wages  ; the  payment  of  equal 
wages  to  men  and  women  for  the  same 
work  ; a government  bureau  for  labor 
statistics  ; sanitary  inspection  of  mines, 
factories  and  dwellings  ; abolition  of  the 
conspiracy  and  tramp  laws,  and  all  class 
privileges  ; the  government  should  issue 
all  money  without  the  intervention  of 
banks  ; the  sweating  system  should  be 
stopped,  as  well  as  the  tenement  house 
work.” 

Some  of  those  demands  are  quite 
reasonable  and  should  be  enforced. 
They  are  noticed  here  merely  to  show 
the  Socialistic  trend  of  the  American 
working  classes.  There  is  not  a labor 
lodge  or  assembly  in  the  United  States 
where  workingmen  are  not  taught  the 
doctrine  of  Socialism  in  one  form  or 
other  ; they  are  reminded  that  a crisis  is 
at  hand  ; that,  owing  to  the  constantly 
decreasing  power  of  labor,  production  is 
being  blocked  ; that  maohines  have  sup- 
planted men  who  are  idle,  while  women 
and  children  work.  An  appeal  is  made, 
through  labor  agitators,  to  workmen  to 
emancipate  themselves  by  national  and 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  UNITED  STATES.  109 

international  organization,  and  thus  op- 
pose organized  capital  by  organized 
labor.  The  only  movement  akin  to  So- 
cialism of  which  America  can  be  said  to 
be  the  birthplace,  is  nationalization  of 
land.  Even  this  may  be  said  to  be 
rather  European  than  American  in  its 
source,  inasmuch  as  the  notions  respect- 
ing the  origin  of  land  ownership  on 
which  the  demand  for  confiscation  is 
based,  have  clearly  reference  to  the  his- 
tory of  European,  not  of  American, 
land.  In  the  United  States  there  has 
been  no  Norman  Conquest,  there  have 
been  no  feudal  tenures.  The  land  has 
been  acquired  in  the  fairest  way  by 
owners  who  have  made  the  best  use  of 
it,  and  has  been  purchased  not  only  with 
the  full  sanction  of  the  community  and 
under  the  most  sacred  guarantee  of  its 
laws,  but  in  large  measure  from  the 
community  itself.  The  vast  scheme  of 
agrarian  confiscation  at  first  designated 
as  nationalization  of  land,  now  veils  it- 
self under  the  designation  of  single  tax, 
which  is  perhaps  less  likely  to  make  the 
American  freeholder  take  down  his  rifle. 
Under  the  new  name,  it  seems  to  have 


110 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


many  adherents.  There  are  people,  it 
appears  not  a few,  able  to  persuade 
themselves  that  by  laying  all  the  taxes 
on  land  without  the  improvements,  they 
can  not  only  extinguish  poverty  and 
diffuse  universal  opulence,  but  bring 
about  a most  blessed  change  in  the 
whole  structure  of  society.  Improve- 
ments that  are  the  product  of  labor  they 
do  not  propose  to  tax.  What  they  pro- 
pose to  tax  is  only  the  value  of  the  land 
unimproved  or  apart  from  the  improve- 
ments. They  appear  to  be  the  victims 
of  a fallacy  arising  from  a confusion  of 
the  terms  value  and  price. 

This  teaching  must  end  in  Commun- 
ism and  Anarchy.  As  Herbert  Spencer 
has  recently  pointed  out : 

“ If  society  in  its  corporate  capacity 
undertakes  beneficence  as  a function;  if 
now  in  this  direction  and  now  in  that,  the 
inferior  learns  by  precept  enforced  by 
example,  that  it  is  a state  duty  not  sim- 
ply to  secure  them  the  unhindered  pursuit 
of  happiness,  but  to  furnish  them  the 
means  of  happiness,  there  is  eventually 
formed  amongst  the  poorer,  and  espe- 
cially the  least  deserving,  a fixed  belief 
that  if  they  are  not  comfortable,  the 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  UNITED  STATES,  m 

government  is  to  blame.  Not  to  their 
own  idleness  and  misdeeds  is  their  mis- 
ery ascribed,  but  to  the  badness  of  so- 
ciety in  not  doing  its  duty  to  them. 
What  follows?  First,  there  grows  up 
among  numbers  the  theory  that  social 
arrangements  must  be  fundamentally 
changed  imsuch  ways  that  all  shall  have 
equal  shares  of  the  products  of  labor — 
that  differences  of  reward,  due  to  dif- 
ferences of  merit,  shall  be  abolished; 
there  comes  Communism.  And,  then, 
among  the  very  poorest,  angered  that 
their  vile  lives  have  not  brought  them 
all  the  good  things  that  they  desire, 
there  grows  up  the  doctrine  that  society 
should  be  destroyed,  and  that  each  man 
should  seize  what  he  likes,  and  suppress, 
as  Ravachol  said,  everyone  who  stands 
in  his  way;  there  comes  Anarchism,  and 
a return  to  the  unrestrained  struggle 
for  life,  as  among  brutes.” 

No  attempt  has  been  made  in  this 
paper  to  refute  the  doctrines  which 
have  been  reviewed.  It  was  not  my 
purpose  to  do  so.  But,  without  enter- 
ing into  a critical  examination  of  Social- 
ism as  a theory  or  practical  policy,  we 
may  be  permitted  to  ask  ourselves  the 
question,  “ Where  is  this  movement 
going  to  end  ? ” “ What  is  likely  to 


112 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


be  its  ultimate  achievement  ? ” One 
thing  is  certain,  that  the  movement  can- 
not result  in  the  permanent  establish- 
ment of  Socialism. 

State  ownership  of  land  and  capital 
would  result  in  a tyranny  far  worse  than 
the  evils  it  would  replace,  and  would 
inevitably  provoke  a revolution.  At 
the  same  time,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  growth  of  Socialistic  ideas  will 
introduce  profound  and  far-reaching 
modifications  in  our  industrial  system. 
A large  development  of  state  inter- 
ference in  the  processes  of  industry ; 
an  increase  of  factory  legislation  ; a legal 
eight  hours’  day  ; an  increase  of  state 
monopolies  in  various  branches  of  in- 
dustry ; the  control  by  the  state,  not 
only  of  the  post  office,  the  telegraphs, 
the  railways,  but  of  much  of  the  mechan- 
ism of  production  and  distribution 
besides  ; all  this  is  possible  and,  in  view 
of  the  current  tendencies  in  the  indus- 
trial world,  even  probable.  Equally 
probable,  and  perhaps  not  wholly  to  be 
deprecated,  is  the  change  which  the 
progress  of  the  movement  must  intro- 
duce into  politics. 


IN  ENGLAND  AND  UNITED  STATES.  H3 

It  will  give  social  questions  prece- 
dence over  those  that  are  merely 
political ; it  will,  in  all  likelihood, 
abolish  mere  party  distinctions  and  di- 
vide politicians  rather  according  to  the 
social  interests  which  they  represent  than 
according  to  the  principles  which  have 
hitherto  divided  them  in  the  scramble 
for  office.  This  change  will  not  be 
wholly  for  evil ; if  it  does  not  make 
politics  more  picturesque,  at  least  it  will 
render  them  more  rational. 

S.  P. — 8 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM. 


HAT  part,  it  may  be  asked,  is  the 


Church  going  to  bear  in  these 
movements  which  are  in  progress?  How 
can  she  exert  her  influence  for  good  in 
the  vicissitudes  of  these  changing  times? 
The  answer  is:  She  can  guide  the  move- 
ments which  are  taking  place  to  ends  of 
holiness  and  peace,  as  she  has  done  in 
great  crises  in  the  past.  She  can  make 
herself  the  light  upon  the  mountain  top, 
illuminating  the  dark  and  forbidden 
paths  into  which  many  have  been  led  by 
the  plausible  but  false  teachers  of 
modern  social  economy. 

The  great  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII,  who  is 
so  familiar  with  the  pressing  questions 
of  the  present  day,  and  so  solicitous  for 
the  temporal,  as  well  as  the  spiritual, 
well-being  of  mankind,  on  a recent 
occasion,  in  reply  to  an  address  of  the 
Colleges  of  Cardinals,  used  these  touch- 
ing and  memorable  words: 


114 


CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM. 


115 


“We  are  in  the  decline  of  life;  but 
shall  continue  to  the  end  to  devote  our- 
selves to  making  the  beneficent  action 
of  the  Church  universally  felt.  The 
need  of  this,”  the  Holy  Father  goes  on 
to  say,  “ is  great,  for  all  the  conceptions 
of  honesty,  justice,  authority,  liberty, 
social  rights,  and  social  duties  have  been 
overthrown.  The  Church  must  seek  to 
recall  the  nations  by  the  principles  of 
moral  faith;  point  out  the  true  causes 
of  existing  evils;  imbue  the  different 
classes  of  society  with  a feeling  of  equity 
and  charity,  and  instill  in  all  an  ardor 
for  peace.” 

It  is  evidently,  then,  the  wish  of  the 
Holy  Father,  as  made  known  in  his  fre- 
quent utterances  on  this  subject  that  the 
Church,  that  is,  bishops,  priests  and 
students  of  social  science,  should  set 
herself  to  educate  and  direct  the  masses 
towards  better  social  conditions,  and  thus 
aid  in  bringing  about  a peaceful  solution 
of  the  social  problem.  Much  has  been 
done  already  through  the  efforts  of  in- 
dividuals. As  in  Germany,  as  we  have 
seen,  that  form  of  Socialism  that  is 
irreligious  and  destructive  was  first 
formulated  into  a system,  so  there,  also, 
a conservative  and  Christian  form  of 


116 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


Socialism  had  its  origin,  and  reached  a 
high  degree  of  success  mainly  through 
the  efforts  of  a Catholic  bishop. 

In  1863,  Bishop  Ketteler  of  May- 
ence  took  up  the  social  question,  which 
was  then  engaging  the  attention  of 
Germany;  it  was  just  a year  before  the 
death  of  La  Salle.  In  that  year  he 
published  his  work,  “ The  Labor  Ques- 
tion and  Christianity.”  In  this  book  he 
depicted  the  evils  of  the  existing  indus- 
trial system  as  strongly  as  Marx  and 
La  Salle.  He  ridiculed  as  scornfully  as 
they  the  pretense  of  liberty  which  was 
offered  to  the  workingman  as  a pallia- 
tion af  his  distress. 

“ Liberty  to  migrate,”  he  writes  with 
scorn,  “ when  he  has  not  bread  where 
he  is  born;  liberty  of  contract,  when 
the  bargain  has  to  be  made  between  a 
rich  man  and  a starveling;  liberty  of 
trades,  which  draws  the  products  of  the 
country  where  the  workman  is  badly 
paid  to  those  where  he  is  better  off,  and 
which  thus  tends  to  reduce  all  to  the 
same  level  of  wretchedness.  You  talk 
to  the  workman  of  self-help,  advise  him 
to  improve  his  condition  by  his  own 
efforts;  it  is  mockery  of  a man  who  can 
hardly  make  out  his  daily  bread.  And 


CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM . 


117 


now,”  concludes  Monsignor  Ketteler, 
after  a scathing  denunciation  of  modern 
industrialism,  “ we  have  our  slave  mar- 
ket in  every  country  of  Europe,  modeled 
upon  a plan  sketched  by  an  enlightened 
anti-Christian  liberalism  and  our  hu- 
manitarian Free-masonry.” 

Bishop  - Ketteler  called  upon  the 
Catholics  of  Germany  to  unite  for  the 
salvation  of  society  and  the  rescue  of 
the  poor.  His  book  became  the  gospel 
of  a great  movement,  and  his  summons 
called  into  existence  a system  of  indus- 
trial associations  which  changed  the 
face  of  Catholic  Germany,  socially  and 
politically.  In  1864  the  representatives 
of  the  Catholics  of  Germany  met  at 
Mayence,  under  the  presidency  of  the 
bishop,  and  formulated  their  program 
of  social  reform.  By  the  year  1870  the 
organization  was  complete.  When  the 
Kulturkampf  began,  M.  Bismarck  had  to 
attack  not  merely  the  priests  of  the 
Church,  but  great  social  organizations, 
with  which  they  were  thoroughly  iden- 
tified. The  associations  were  all  con- 
nected with  the  Church;  they  had  their 
religious  festivals  and  their  patron 
saints;  they  were  presided  over,  not  by 


118 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 


priests,  but  by  laymen  of  practical  abil- 
ity, and  of  known  fidelity  to  religion; 
they  included  the  wealthy  inhabitants 
of  each  commune  as  well  as  the  poor; 
they  were  open  to  the  members  of  every 
Christian  church,  but  they  rigidly  ex- 
cluded all  democratic  Socialists. 

In  1870,  at  the  general  assembly  held 
at  Essen,  it  was  announced  that  the  as- 
sociations formed  under  the  inspiration 
of  the  Church  numbered  100,000  mas- 
ter workmen,  80,000  journeymen,  30,000 
priests,  and  15,000  small  farmers,  and  it 
was  prophesied  that  within  a few  years 
the  associates  would  be  reckoned  by  the 
hundred  thousand;  the  prediction  was 
more  than  fulfilled.  In  1874  there  were 
258  Catholic  newspapers  in  Germany, 
most  of  them  organs  of  the  associations; 
150  in  Prussia,  77  in  Bavaria,  and  41  in 
the  rest  of  Germany. 

These  Catholic  associations  reach  to 
every  form  of  industry.  There  is  the 
Catholic  Miners’  Association,  the  Ar- 
tisans’ Association,  societies  for  women 
workers  and  domestic  servants;  but, 
above  all,  the  Farmers’  Union,  with  its 
newspapers,  its  banks,  its  cooperative 


CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM. 


119 


purchase  system,  and  its  vast  network 
of  affiliated  societies  all  over  the  em- 
pire. All  this  has  been  due  to  the  in- 
spiration and  guidance  of  the  Church; 
and  with  this  movement,  during  its 
progress,  the  representatives  of  the 
Church  have  been  prominently  and 
effectively  identified. 

From  the  undoubted  success  of  this 
Catholic  movement  in  Germany  we,  in 
dealing  with  the  social  problem  in  this 
country,  may  learn  a profitable  lesson. 
Its  solution  must  rest  ultimately  with 
the  acceptance  of  those  Christian  prin- 
ciples which  it  is  the  mission  of  the 
Church  to  inculcate.  The  care  and 
protection  of  the  poor  is  the  special  con- 
cern of  the  Church  of  God. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  in  a country 
where  the  representatives  of  the  Church 
have  displayed,  as  in  Germany,  such 
beneficent  public  activity  on  behalf  of 
the  working  classes  and  the  poor,  her 
hold  upon  the  allegiance  of  the  people 
has  been  strong  enough  to  defy  the 
attacks  of  the  most  powerful,  as  well  as 
the  most  astute,  statesman  of  the  age. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM  OUTSIDE  THE 
CHURCH. 

rvUTSIDE  the  Catholic  Church,  Chris- 
^ tian  Socialism  has  already  a history. 
In  that  history  the  teachings  of  Kingsley, 
Maurice  and  Hughes  in  England,  of 
Todt  and  Stocker  in  Germany,  and  of 
De  Laveleye  in  France  and  Belgium 
have  a large  place. 

There  are  Christian  Socialists  in  the 
United  States  ; but  the  movement  here 
is  only  beginning  to  take  shape.  Our 
periodical  press  is  filled  with  articles  on 
the  question,  and  from  the  very  general 
attention  bestowed  on  the  subject,  this 
phase  of  Socialism  is  certain  to  be 
deeply  felt  in  the  transforming  process 
that  is  going  on  all  around  us. 

Carlyle  said  some  years  ago,  what 
every  Christian  fully  understands,  that 
“ the  beginning  and  the  end  of  what  is 
the  matter  with  society,  is  that  we  have 
120 


CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM. 


121 


forgotten  God.”  Hence,  to  set  society 
right  it  must  be  restored  to  a knowledge 
of  God  and  His  laws. 

It  would  be  folly  to  deny  that  the 
increasing  trend  of  the  age  is  towards 
Socialism.  It  is  so,  not  only  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe,  but  also  in  England 
and  in  this  country.  No  one  can  be 
blind  to  the  signs  of  the  times,  nor  deaf 
to  the  audible  mutterings  of  defiance 
and  despair  to  be  heard  in  many  quar- 
ters. 

“ Every  ear  in  court  and  market 
Hears  the  low,  foreboding  cry 
Of  those  crises,  God’s  stern  winnowers, 

From  whose  feet  earth’s  chaff  must  fly.” 

A different,  and  let  us  hope,  a more 
peaceful,  crisis  than  that  of  which  Lowell 
sang,  is  upon  us.  It  is  the  part  of  wis- 
dom, and  our  duty,  if  it  is  proper  to 
say  it,  of  the  students  of  this  Catholic 
School  of  America,  to  prepare  for  it  by 
seeking  to  know  the  real  facts  and 
forces  at  work  in  our  existing  industrial 
system  ; the  nature  and  aims  of  contem- 
porary Socialism  ; and,  above  all,  for 
each  one  to  contribute  his  share  in  mak- 
ing the  transition  from  the  old  order  to 
the  new,  tranquil  and  beneficent. 


122 


SOCIAL  PROBLEMS . 


This,  let  us  not  forget:  that  the  Church 
of  God  which  redressed  the  evils  of 
society  in  the  past  has  the  power  to 
redress  the  evils  that  afflict  society  in 
the  present,  in  so  far  as  they  can  be 
redressed  in  this  life  ; and  let  Social- 
ists remember,  that  the  “ great  mother 
of  Christendom  has  a big  and  generous 
heart,”  and  that  there  is  no  misery,  in 
whatever  form  it  appears,  she  will  not 
move  heaven  and  earth-  to  take  away. 


REFERENCES 


Encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.,  on  the  Con- 
dition of  Labor;  Thorold  Rogers’  His- 
tory of  Wages  and  Prices;  Prof.  Ely’s 
Problems  of  To-Day;  The  Duke  of  Ar- 
gyll’s Reign  of  Law;  Taylor,  On  Profit- 
Sharing;  Walker,  On  Wages;  Atkin- 
son’s Distribution  of  Products;  Various 
Reports  of  the  State  Department  at 
Washington;  Wright’s  Report  on  Fac- 
tory System;  Reports  of  the  United 
States  and  State  Bureaus  of  Statistics 
of  Labor;  Labor  Publications;  Bren- 
tano,  On  Guilds  and  Trade-Unions, 
London,  1870;  Contemporary  Social- 
ism, John  Rae,  New  York,  Scribner’s 
Sons,  1884;  Industrial  Liberty,  Bon- 
ham, New  York  and  London,  Putnam’s 
Sons,  1888;  Laveleye,  Le  Socialisme 
Contemporain,  Paris,  1883;  Paul  Janet, 
Les  Origines  du  Socialisme  Contem- 
porain, Paris,  1883;  Stepniak,  Under- 
ground Russia,  London,  1883;  Father 
Finlay,  S.  J.,  Paper  on  Socialism;  Hynd- 
man,  Historical  Basis  of  Socialism  in 
England,  London,  1884.  See  also  the 
contributions  on  this  question  to  the 
periodical  literature  of  the  day. 


123 


APPENDIX 


Encyclical  Letter 

of 

POPE  LEO  XIII. 

ON  THB 

CONDITION  OF  LABOR 


(125) 


To  Our  Venerable  Brethren, 

All  Patriarchs,  Primates,  Archbishops,  and 
Bishops  of  the  Catholic  World, 

In  Grace  and  Communion  with  the  Apostolic 
See, 

POPE  LEO  XIII. 

Venerable  Brethren, 

Health  and  Apostolic  Benediction. 

|T  is  not  surprising  that  the  spirit  of 
revolutionary  change,  which  has  so 
long  been  predominant  in  the  nations 
of  the  world,  should  have  passed  beyond 
politics  and  made  its  influence  felt  in 
the  cognate  field  of  practical  economy. 
The  elements  of  a conflict  are  unmis- 
takable : the  growth  of  industry,  and 
the  surprising  discoveries  of  science  ; 
the  changed  relations  of  masters  and 
workmen  ; the  enormous  fortunes  of 
individuals,  and  the  poverty  of  the 
masses  ; the  increased  self-reliance  and 
the  closer  mutual  combination  of  the 
working  population;  and,  finally,  a gen- 
eral moral  deterioration.  The  momen- 


127 


128 


ENCYCLICAL 


tous  seriousness  of  the  present  state  of 
things  just  now  fills  every  mind  with 
painful  apprehension  ; wise  men  discuss 
it  ; practical  men  propose  schemes  ; 
popular  meetings,  legislatures,  and 
sovereign  princes,  all  are  occupied  with 
it  — and  there  is  nothing  which  has  a 
deeper  hold  on  public  attention. 

Therefore,  Venerable  Brethren,  as  on 
former  occasions,  when  it  seemed  oppor- 
tune to  refute  false  teaching,  We  have 
addressed  you  in  the  interests  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  common  weal,  and 
have  issued  letters  on  Political  Power, 
on  Human  Liberty,  on  the  Christian 
Constitution  of  the  State,  and  on  similar 
subjects,  so  now  We  have  thought  it 
useful  to  speak  on  the  Condition  of 
Labor.  It  is  a matter  on  which  We 
have  touched  once  or  twice  already. 
But  in  this  letter  the  responsibility  of 
the  Apostolic  office  urges  Us  to  treat 
the  question  expressly  and  at  length,  in 
order  that  there  may  be  no  mistake  as 
to  the  principles  which  truth  and  justice 
dictate  for  its  settlement.  The  dis- 
cussion is  not  easy,  nor  is  it  free  from 
danger.  It  is  not  easy  to  define  the 


ON  TIIE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  129 

relative  rights  and  the  mutual  duties  of 
the  wealthy  and  of  the  poor,  of  capital 
and  of  labor.  And  the  danger  lies  in 
this,  that  crafty  agitators  constantly 
make  use  of  these  disputes  to  pervert 
men’s  judgments  and  to  stir  up  the 
people  to  "sedition. 

But  all  agree,  and  there  can  be  no 
question  whatever,  that  some  remedy 
must  be  found,  and  quickly  found,  for 
the  misery  and  wretchedness  which 
press  so  heavily  at  this  moment  on  the 
large  majority  of  the  very  poor.  The 
ancient  workmen’s  guilds  were  destroyed 
in  the  last  century,  and  no  other  organ- 
ization took  their  place.  Public  insti- 
tutions and  the  laws  have  repudiated 
the  ancient  religion.  Hence,  by  degrees 
it  has  come  to  pass  that  workingmen 
have  been  given  over,  isolated  and  de- 
fenseless, to  the  callousness  of  employ- 
ers and  the  greed  of  unrestrained 
competition.  The  evil  has  been  increased 
by  rapacious  usury,  which,  although 
more  than  once  condemned  by  the 
Church,  is  nevertheless  under  a differ- 
ent form,  but  with  the  same  guilt,  still 
practiced  by  avaricious  and  grasping 
S.  P.— 9 


130 


ENCYCLICAL 


men.  And  to  this  must  be  added  the 
custom  of  working  by  contract,  and  the 
concentration  of  so  many  branches  of 
trade  in  the  hands  of  a few  individuals, 
so  that  a small  number  of  very  rich 
men  have  been  able  to  lay  upon  the 
masses  of  the  poor,  a yoke  little  better 
than  slavery  itself. 

To  remedy  these  evils  the  Socialists, 
working  on  the  poor  man’s  envy  of  the 
rich,  endeavor  to  destroy  private  prop- 
erty, and  maintain  that  individual 
possessions  should  become  the  common 
property  of  all,  to  be  administered  by 
the  state  or  by  municipal  bodies.  They 
hold  that,  by  thus  transferring  property 
from  private  persons  to  the  community, 
the  present  evil  state  of  things  will 
be  set  to  rights,  because  each  citi- 
zen will  then  have  his  equal  share 
of  whatever  there  is  to  enjoy.  But 
their  proposals  are  so  clearly  futile  for 
all  practical  purposes,  that  if  they  were 
carried  out  the  workingman  himself 
would  be  among  the  first  to  suffer. 
Moreover  they  are  emphatically  unjust, 
because  they  would  rob  the  lawful  pos- 
sessor; bring  the  state  into  a sphere  that 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  131 

is  not  its  own,  and  cause  complete  con- 
fusion in  the  community. 

It  is  surely  undeniable  that,  when  a 
man  engages  in  remunerative  labor,  the 
very  reason  and  motive  of  his  work  is 
to  obtain  property,  and  to  hold  it  as  his 
own  private  possession.  If  one  man 
hires  out  to  another  his  strength  or  his 
industry,  he  does  this  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving  in  return  what  is  necessary 
for  food  and  living;  he  thereby  expressly 
proposes  to  acquire  a full  and  real  right, 
not  only  to  the  remuneration,  but  also  to 
the  disposal  of  that  remuneration,  as  he 
pleases.  Thus,  if  he  lives  sparingly, 
saves  money,  and  invests  his  savings 
for  greater  security  in  land,  the  land  in 
such  a case  is  only  his  wages  in  another 
form ; and,  consequently,  a workingman’s 
little  estate  thus  purchased  should  be 
as  completely  at  his  own  disposal  as  the 
wages  he  receives  for  his  labor.  But  it 
is  precisely  in  this  power  of  disposal 
that  ownership  consists,  whether  the 
property  be  land  or  movable  goods. 
The  Socialists,  therefore,  in  endeavor- 
ing to  transfer  the  possessions  of  indi- 
viduals to  the  community,  strike  at  the 


132 


ENCYCLICAL 


interests  of  every  wage-earner,  for  they 
deprive  him  of  the  liberty  of  disposing 
of  his  wages,  and  thus  of  all  hope  and 
possibility  of  increasing  his  stock  and  of 
bettering  his  condition  in  life. 

What  is  of  still  greater  importance, 
however,  is  that  the  remedy  they  pro- 
pose is  manifestly  against  justice.  For 
every  man  has  by  nature  the  right  to 
possess  property  as  his  own.  This  is  one 
of  the  chief  points  of  distinction  be- 
tween man  and  the  animal  creation. 
For  the  brute  has  no  power  of  self- 
direction,  but  is  governed  by  two 
chief  instincts,  which  keep  his  pow- 
ers alert,  move  him  to  use  his  strength, 
and  determine  him  to  action  with- 
out the  power  of  choice.  These  instincts 
are  self-preservation  and  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  species.  Both  can  attain 
their  purpose  by  means  of  things  which 
are  close  at  hand;  beyond  their  surround- 
ings the  brute  creation  cannot  go,  for 
they  are  moved  to  action  by  sensibility 
alone,  and  by  the  things  which  sense 
perceives.  But  with  man  it  is  different 
indeed.  He  possesses,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  full  perfection  of  animal  nature,  and 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  133 

therefore  lie  enjoys,  at  least  as  much  as 
the  rest  of  the  animal  race,  the  fruition 
of  the  things  of  the  body.  But  animal- 
ity, however  perfect,  is  far  from  be- 
ing the  whole  of  humanity,  and  is 
indeed  humanity’s  humble  handmaid, 
made  to  -serve  and  obey.  It  is  the 
mind,  or  the  reason,  which  is  the  chief 
thing  in  us  who  are  human  beings; 
it  is  this  which  makes  a human  being 
human,  and  distinguishes  him  essentially 
and  completely  from  the  brute.  And 
on  this  account,  viz.,  that  man  alone 
among  animals  possesses  reason,  it  must 
be  within  his  right  to  have  things  not 
merely  for  temporary  and  momentary 
use,  as  other  living  beings  have  them, 
but  in  stable  and  permanent  possession; 
he  must  have  not  only  things  which 
perish  in  the  using,  but  also  those  which, 
though  used,  remain  for  use  in  the 
future. 

This  becomes  still  more  clearly  evi- 
dent if  we  consider  man’s  nature  a little 
more  deeply.  For  man,  comprehending 
by  the  power  of  his  reason  things  in- 
numerable. and  joining  the  future  with 
the  present  — being,  moreover,  the 


134 


ENCYCLICAL 


master  of  his  own  acts — governs  himself 
by  the  foresight  of  his  counsel,  under 
the  eternal  law  and  the  power  of  God, 
Whose  Providence  governs  all  things; 
wherefore  it  is  in  his  power  to  exercise 
his  choice  not  only  on  things  which  re- 
gard his  present  welfare,  but  also  on 
those  which  will  be  for  his  advantage 
in  time  to  come.  Hence,  man  not  only 
can  possess  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  but 
also  the  earth  itself;  for  of  the  products 
of  the  earth  he  can  make  provision  for 
the  future.  Man’s  needs  do  not  die  out, 
but  recur;  satisfied  to-day,  they  demand 
new  supplies  to-morrow.  Nature,  there- 
fore, owes  to  man  a storehouse  that 
shall  never  fail  the  daily  supply  of  his 
daily  wants  — and  this  he  finds  only  in 
the  inexhaustible  fertility  of  the  earth. 

Nor  must  we,  at  this  stage,  have  re- 
course to  the  state.  Man  is  older  than 
the  state;  and  he  holds  the  right  of 
providing  for  the  life  of  his  body  prior 
to  the  formation  of  any  state.  And  to 
say  that  God  has  given  the  earth  to  the 
use  and  enjoyment  of  the  universal 
human  race  is  not  to  deny  that  there 
can  be  private  property.  For  God  has 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR . 1 35 

granted  the  earth  to  mankind  in  general; 
not  in  the  sense  that  all  without  distinc- 
tion can  deal  with  it  as  they  please,  but 
rather  that  no  part  of  it  has  been 
assigned  to  any  one  in  particular,  and 
that  the  limits  of  private  possession 
have  beeip  left  to  be  fixed  by  man’s  own 
industry  and  the  laws  of  individual 
peoples.  Moreover,  the  earth,  though 
divided  among  private  owners,  ceases 
not  thereby  to  minister  to  the  needs  of 
all  ; for  there  is  no  one  who  does  not 
live  on  what  the  land  brings  forth. 
Those  who  do  not  possess  the  soil,  con- 
tribute their  labor ; so  that  it  may  bt 
truly  said  that  all  human  subsistence  is 
derived  either  from  labor  on  one’s  own 
land,  or  from  some  laborious  industry 
which  is  paid  for  either  in  the  produce 
of  the  land  itself  or  in  that  which  is 
exchanged  for  what  the  land  brings 
forth. 

Here,  again,  we  have  another  proof 
that  private  ownership  is  according  to 
nature’s  law.  For  that  which  is  required 
for  the  preservation  of  life,  and  for  life’s 
well-being,  is  produced  in  great  abun- 
dance by  the  earth,  but  not  until  man 


136 


ENCYCLICAL 


lias  brought  it  into  cultivation  and 
lavished  upon  it  his  care  and  skill.  Now, 
when  man  thus  spends  the  industry  of 
his  mind  and  the  strength  of  his  body 
in  procuring  the  fruits  of  nature,  by  that 
act  he  makes  his  own  that  portion  of 
nature’s  field  which  he  cultivates  — 
that  portion  on  which  he  leaves,  as  it 
were,  the  impress  of  his  own  personality; 
and  it  cannot  but  be  just  that  he 
should  possess  that  portion  as  his  own, 
and  should  have  a right  to  keep  it  with- 
out molestation. 

These  arguments  are  so  strong  and 
convincing  that  it  seems  surprising  that 
certain  obsolete  opinions  should  now  be 
revived  in  opposition  to  what  is  here 
laid  down.  We  are  told  that  it  is  right 
for  private  persons  to  have  the  use  of 
the  soil  and  the  fruits  of  their  land,  but 
that  it  is  unjust  for  anyone  to  possess 
as  owner  either  the  land  on  which  he 
has  built  or  the  estate  which  he  has  cul- 
tivated. But  those  who  assert  this  do 
not  perceive  that  they  are  robbing  man 
of  what  his  own  labor  has  produced. 
For  the  soil  which  is  tilled  and  culti- 
vated with  toil  and  skill  utterly  changes 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  137 

its  condition  ; it  was  wild  before,  it  is 
now  fruitful  ; it  was  barren,  and  now  it 
brings  forth  in  abundance.  That  which 
has  thus  altered  and  improved  it  be- 
comes so  truly  part  of  itself  as  to  be  in 
great  measure  indistinguishable  and 
inseparable  from  it.  Is  it  just  that  the 
fruit  of  a man’s  sweat  and  labor  should 
be  enjoyed  by  another  ? As  effects 
follow  their  cause,  so  it  is  just  and 
right  that  the  results  of  labor  should  be- 
long to  him  who  has  labored. 

With  reason,  therefore,  the  common 
opinion  of  mankind,  little  affected  by 
the  few  dissentients  who  have  maintained 
the  opposite  view,  has  found  in  the 
study  of  nature,  and  in  the  law  of 
nature  herself,  the  foundation  of  the 
division  of  property,  and  has  consecrated 
by  the  practice  of  all  ages  the  principle 
of  private  ownership,  as  being  pre- 
eminently in  conformity  with  human 
nature  and  as  conducing,  in  the  most 
unmistakable  manner,  to  the  peace  and 
tranquility  of  human  life.  The  same 
principle  is  confirmed  and  enforced  by 
the  civil  laws  — laws  which,  as  long  as 
they  are  just,  derive  their  binding  force 


138 


ENCYCLICAL 


from  the  law  of  nature.  The  authority 
of  the  Divine  Law  adds  its  sanction,  for- 
bidding us  in  the  gravest  terms  even  to 
covet  that  which  is  another’s  : — “ Thou 
shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor’s  wife  ; nor 
his  house,  nor  his  field,  nor  his  man- 
servant, nor  his  maid-servant,  nor  his  ox, 
nor  his  ass,  nor  anything  which  is  his.”  1 

The  rights  here  spoken  of,  belonging 
to  each  individual  man,  are  seen  in  a 
much  stronger  light  if  they  are  consid- 
ered in  relation  to  man’s  social  and 
domestic  obligations. 

In  choosing  a state  of  life,  it  is  indis- 
putable that  all  are  at  full  liberty  either 
to  follow  the  counsel  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
to  virginity,  or  to  enter  into  the  bonds 
of  marriage.  No  human  law  can  abolish 
the  natural  and  primitive  right  of 
marriage,  or  in  any  way  limit  the  chief 
and  principal  purpose  of  marriage, 
ordained  by  God’s  authority  from  the 
beginning:  “Increase  and  multiply.” 2 
Thus  we  have  the  family ; the  “ so- 
ciety” of  a man’s  own  household  ; a 
society  limited  indeed  in  numbers,  but 


1 Deuteronomy,  v,  21. 

2 Genesis  i,  28. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  139 

a true  “ society,”  anterior  to  every  kind 
of  state  or  nation,  with  rights  and  du- 
ties of  its  own,  totally  independent  of 
the  commonwealth. 

That  right  of  property,  therefore, 
which  has  been  proved  to  belong  nat- 
urally to  ^individual  persons,  must  also 
belong  to  a man  in  his  capacity  of  head 
of  a family;  nay,  such  a person  must 
possess  this  right  so  much  the  more 
clearly  in  proportion  as  his  position  mul- 
tiplies his  duties.  For  it  is  a most  sa- 
cred law  of  nature  that  a father  must 
provide  food  and  all  necessaries  for  those 
whom  he  has  begotten;  and,  similarly, 
nature  dictates  that  a man’s  children, 
who  carry  on,  as  it  were,  and  continue 
his  own  personality,  should  be  provided 
by  him  with  all  that  is  needful  to  ena- 
ble them  honorably  to  keep  themselves 
from  want  and  misery  in  the  uncertain- 
ties of  this  mortal  life.  Now,  in  no 
other  way  can  a father  effect  this  except 
by  the  ownership  of  profitable  property, 
which  he  can  transmit  to  his  children 
by  inheritance.  A family,  no  less  than 
a state,  is,  as  We  have  said,  a true 
society,  governed  by  a power  within 


140 


ENCYCLICAL 


itself,  that  is  to  say,  by  the  father. 
Wherefore,  provided  the  limits  be  not 
transgressed  which  are  prescribed  by 
the  very  purposes  for  which  it  exists, 
the  family  has  at  least  equal  rights  with 
the  state  in  the  choice  and  pursuit  of 
those  things  which  are  needful  to  its 
preservation  and  its  just  liberty. 

We  say,  at  least  equal  rights;  for 
since  the  domestic  household  is  anterior 
both  in  idea  and  in  fact  to  the  gather- 
ing of  men  into  a commonwealth,  the 
former  must  necessarily  have  rights  and 
duties  which  are  prior  to  those  of  the 
latter,  and  which  rest  more  immediately 
on  nature.  If  the  citizens  of  a state 
— that  is  to  say,  the  families — on  enter- 
ing into  association  and  fellowship, 
experienced,  at  the  hands  of  the  state, 
hindrance  instead  of  help,  and  found 
their  rights  attacked  instead  of  being 
protected,  such  association  were  rather 
to  be  repudiated  than  sought  after. 

The  idea  then,  that  the  civil  government 
should,  at  its  own  discretion,  penetrate 
and  pervade  the  family  and  the  house- 
hold, is  a great  and  pernicious  mistake. 
True,  if  a family  finds  itself  in  great 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  141 

difficulty,  utterly  friendless,  and  with- 
out prospect  of  help,  it  is  right  that  ex- 
treme necessity  be  met  by  public  aid; 
for  each  family  is  a part  of  the  common- 
wealth. In  like  manner,  if  within  the 
walls  of  the  household  there  occur 
grave  disturbance  of  mutual  rights,  the 
public  power  must  interfere  to  force 
each  party  to  give  the  other  what  is  due; 
for  this  is  not  to  rob  citizens  of  their 
rights,  but  justly  and  properly  to  safe- 
guard and  strengthen  them.  But  the 
rulers  of  the  state  must  go  no  further; 
nature  bids  them  stop  here.  Paternal 
authority  can  neither  be  abolished  by 
the  state,  nor  absorbed;  for  it  has  the 
same  source  as  human  life  itself.  “ The 
child  belongs  to  the  father,”  and  is,  as 
it  were,  the  continuation  of  the  father’s 
personality;  and,  to  speak  with  strict- 
ness, the  child  takes  its  place  in  civil 
society  not  in  its  own  right,  but  in  its 
quality  as  a member  of  the  family  in 
which  it  is  begotten.  And  it  is  for  the 
very  reason  that  “ the  child  belongs  to 
the  father”  that,  as  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin 
says,  “ before  it  attains  the  use  of  free 
will,  it  is  in  the  power  and  care  of  its 


142 


ENCYCLICAL 


parents.”1  The  Socialists,  therefore,  in 
setting  aside  the  parent  and  introducing 
the  providence  of  the  state,  act  against 
natural  justice,  and  threaten  the  very 
existence  of  family  life. 

And  such  interference  is  not  only  un- 
just, but  it  is  quite  certain  to  harass  and 
disturb  all  classes  of  citizens  and  to 
subject  them  to  odious  and  intolerable 
slavery.  It  would  open  the  door  to 
envy,  to  evil  speaking,  and  to  quarrel- 
ing; the  sources  of  wealth  would  them- 
selves run  dry,  for  no  one  would  have 
any  interest  in  exerting  his  talents  or 
his  industry;  and  that  ideal  equality  of 
which  so  much  is  said  would  in  reality 
be  the  leveling  down  of  all  to  the  same 
condition  of  misery  and  dishonor. 

Thus  it  is  clear  that  the  main  tenet  of 
Socialism,  the  community  of  goods,  must 
be  utterly  rejected;  for  it  would  injure 
those  whom  it  is  intended  to  benefit,  it 
would  be  contrary  to  the  natural  rights 
of  mankind,  and  it  would  introduce  confu- 
sion and  disorder  into  the  commonwealth. 
Our  first  and  most  fundamental  princi- 

i St.  Thomas,  “ Summa  Theologica,”  2a  2se  Q.  x. 
Art.  12. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR . 143 

pie,  therefore,  when  we  undertake  to 
alleviate  the  condition  of  the  masses, 
must  be  the  inviolability  of  private 
property.  This  laid  down,  We  ^o  on  to 
show  where  we  must  find  the  remedy 
that  we  seek. 

We  approach  the  subject  with  confi- 
dence and  in  the  exercise  of  the  rights 
which  belong  to  Us.  For  no  practical 
solution  of  this  question  will  ever  be 
found  without  the  assistance  of  Religion 
and  of  the  Church.  It  is  We  who  are 
the  chief  guardian  of  Religion  and  the 
chief  dispenser  of  what  belongs  to  the 
Church,  and  We  must  not  by  silence 
neglect  the  duty  which  lies  upon  Us. 
Doubtless  this  most  serious  question 
demands  the  attention  and  the  efforts  of 
others  besides  Ourselves — of  the  rulers 
of  states,  of  employers  of  labor,  of  the 
wealthy,  and  of  the  working  population 
themselves  for  whom  We  plead.  But 
We  affirm  without  hesitation  that  all  the 
striving  of  men  will  be  vain  if  they 
leave  out  the  Church.  It  is  the  Church 
that  proclaims  from  the  Gospel  those 
teachings  by  which  the  conflict  can  be 
put  an  end  to,  or  at  the  least  made  far 


144 


ENCYCLICAL 


less  bitter  ; the  Church  uses  its  efforts 
not  only  to  enlighten  the  mind,  but  to 
direct  by  its  precepts  the  life  and  con- 
duct of  men  ; the  Church  improves  and 
ameliorates  the  condition  of  the  work- 
ingman by  numerous  useful  organiza- 
tions ; does  its  best  to  enlist  the  services 
of  all  ranks  in  discussing  and  endeavor- 
ing to  meet,  in  the  most  practical  way, 
the  claims  of  the  working  classes  ; and 
acts  on  the  decided  view  that  for  these 
purposes  recourse  should  be  had,  in  due 
measure  and  degree,  to  the  help  of  the 
law  and  of  state  authority. 

Let  it  be  laid  down,  in  the  first  place, 
that  humanity  must  remain  as  it  is.  It 
is  impossible  to  reduce  "human  society 
to  a level.  The  Socialists  may  do  their 
utmost,  but  all  striving  against  nature 
is  vain.  There  naturally  exist  among 
mankind  innumerable  differences  of  the 
most  important  kind  ; people  differ  in 
capability,  in  diligence,  in  health,  and 
in  strength  ; and  unequal  fortune  is  a 
necessary  result  of  inequality  in  con- 
dition. Such  inequality  is  far  from 
being  disadvantageous  either  to  indi- 
viduals or  to  the  community ; social 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  145 

and  public  life  can  only  go  on  by  the 
help  of  various  kinds  of  capacity  and 
the  playing  of  many  parts  ; and  each 
man,  as  a rule,  chooses  the  part  which 
peculiarly  suits  his  case.  As  regards 
bodily  labor,  even  had  man  never  fallen 
from  the  state  of  innocence,  he  would 
not  have  been  wholly  unoccupied  ; but 
that  which  would  then  have  been  his 
free  choice  and  his  delight,  became 
afterwards  compulsory,  and  the  painful 
expiation  of  his  sin.  “ Cursed  be  the 
earth  in  thy  work  ; in  thy  labor  thou 
shalt  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life.”1 

In  like  manner,  the  other  pains  and 
hardships  of  life  will  have  no  end  or 
cessation  on  this  earth  ; for  the  conse- 
quences of  sin  are  bitter  and  hard  to 
bear,  and  they  must  be  with  man  as 
long  as  life  lasts.  To  suffer  and  to 
endure,  therefore,  is  the  lot  of  humanity; 
let  men  try  as  they  may,  no  strength 
and  no  artifice  will  ever  succeed  in 
banishing  from  human  life  the  ills  and 
troubles  which  beset  it.  If  any  there 
are  who  pretend  differently — who  hold 
out  to  a hard-pressed  people,  freedom 

1 Genesis  iii,  17. 

S.  P.— 10 


146 


ENCYCLICAL 


from  pain  and  trouble,  undisturbed 
repose,  and  constant  enjoyment — they 
cheat  the  people  and  impose  upon  them, 
and  their  lying  promises  will  only  make 
the  evil  worse  than  before.  There  is 
nothing  more  useful  than  to  look  at  the 
world  as  it  really  is,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  look  elsewhere  for  a remedy  to 
its  troubles. 

The  great  mistake  that  is  made  in 
the  matter  now  under  consideration, 
is  to  possess  one’s  self  of  the  idea 
that  class  is  naturally  hostile  to  class  ; 
that  rich  and  poor  are  intended  by 
nature  to  live  at  war  with  one  another. 
So  irrational  and  so  false  is  this  view, 
that  the  exact  contrary  is  the  truth. 
Just  as  the  symmetry  of  the  human 
body  is  the  result  of  the  disposition 
of  the  members  of  the  body,  so  in  a 
state  it  is  ordained  by  nature  that  these 
two  classes  should  exist  in  harmony  and 
agreement,  and  should,  as  it  were,  fit 
into  one  another,  so  as  to  maintain  the 
equilibrium  of  the  body  politic.  Each 
requires  the  other  ; capital  cannot  do 
without  labor,  nor  labor  without  capital. 
Mutual  agreement  results  in  pleasant- 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  147 

ness  and  good  order;  perpetual  conflict 
necessarily  produces  confusion  and  out- 
rage. 

Now,  in  preventing  such  strife  as 
this,  and  in  making  it  impossible,  the 
efficacy  of  Christianity  is  marvelous  and 
manifold.  First  of  all,  there  is  nothing 
more  powerful  than  Religion  (of  which 
the  Church  is  the  interpreter  and  guard- 
ian) in  drawing  rich  and  poor  together, 
by  reminding  each  class  of  its  duties  to 
the  other,  and  especially  of  the  duties  of 
justice.  Thus  Religion  teaches  the 
laboring  man  and  the  workman  to  carry 
out  honestly  and  well  all  equitable 
agreements  freely  made;  never  to  injure 
capital,  or  to  outrage  the  person  of  an 
employer;  never  to  employ  violence  in 
representing  his  own  cause,  or  to  engage 
in  riot  or  disorder;  and  to  have  nothing 
to  do  with  men  of  evil  principles,  who 
work  upon  the  people  with  artful 
promises,  and  raise  foolish  hopes  which 
usually  end  in  disaster  and  in  repentance 
when  too  late. 

Religion  teaches  the  rich  man  and 
the  employer  that  their  work  people 
are  not  their  slaves;  that  they  must 


148 


ENCYCLICAL 


respect  in  every  man  his  dignity  as 
a man  and  as  a Christian;  that  labor 
is  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of,  if  we  listen 
to  right  reason  and  Christian  philoso- 
phy, but  is  an  honorable  employment, 
enabling  a man  to  sustain  his  life  in  an 
upright  and  creditable  way;  and  that  it 
is  shameful  and  inhuman  to  treat  men 
like  chattels  to  make  money  by,  or  to 
look  upon  them  merely  as  so  much 
muscle  or  physical  power.  Thus,  again, 
Religion  teaches  that,  as  among  the 
workman's  concerns  are  Religion  herself 
and  things  spiritual  and  mental,  the  em- 
ployer is  bound  to  see  that  he  has  time 
for  the  duties  of  piety;  that  he  be  not 
exposed  to  corrupting  influences  and 
dangerous  occasions;  and  that  he  be  not 
led  away  to  neglect  his  home  and  family 
or  to  squander  his  wages. 

Then,  again,  the  employer  must 
never  tax  his  work  people  beyond 
their  strength,  nor  employ  them  in 
work  unsuited  to  their  sex  or  age.  His 
great  and  principal  obligation  is  to  give 
to  everyone  that  which  is  just.  Doubt- 
less before  we  can  decide  whether 
wages  are  adequate,  many  things 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  149 

have  to  be  considered;  but  rich  men 
and  masters  should  remember  this:  that 
to  exercise  pressure  for  the  sake  of  gain 
upon  the  indigent  and  the  destitute,  and 
to  make  one’s  profit  out  of  the  need  of 
another,  is  condemned  by  all  laws, 
human  and  divine.  To  defraud  anyone 
of  wages  that  are  his  due,  is  a crime 
which  cries  to  the  avenging  anger  of 
Heaven.  64  Behold,  the  hire  of  the  laborers 
. . . which  by  fraud  hath  been  kept 
back  by  you,  crieth;  and  the  cry  of  them 
hath  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord 
of  Sabaoth.”  1 Finally,  the  rich  must 
religiously  refrain  from  cutting  down 
the  workman’s  earnings,  either  by  force, 
by  fraud,  or  by  usurious  dealing;  and 
with  the  more  reason  because  the  poor 
man  is  weak  and  unprotected,  and 
because  his  slender  means  should  be 
sacred  in  proportion  to  their  scanti- 
ness. 

Were  these  precepts  carefully  obeyed 
and  followed,  would  not  strife  die  out 
and  cease? 

But  the  Church,  with  Jesus  Christ  for 
its  Master  and  Guide,  aims  higher  still. 


1 St.  James  v,  4. 


150 


ENCYCLICAL 


It  lays  down  precepts  yet  more  perfect, 
and  tries  to  bind  class  to  class  in  friend- 
liness and  good  understanding.  The 
things  of  this  earth  cannot  be  under- 
stood or  valued  rightly  without  taking 
into  consideration  the  life  to  come,  the 
life  that  will  last  forever.  Exclude  the 
idea  of  futurity,  and  the  very  notion  of 
what  is  good  and  right  would  perish; 
nay,  the  whole  system  of  the  universe 
would  become  a dark  and  unfathomable 
mystery. 

The  great  truth  which  we  learn 
from  nature  herself,  is  also  the  grand 
Christian  dogma  on  which  Religion 
rests  as  on  its  base:  that  when  we 

have  done  with  this  present  life  then  we 
shall  really  begin  to  live.  God  has  not 
created  us  for  the  perishable  and  transi- 
tory things  of  earth,  but  for  things 
heavenly  and  everlasting;  He  has  given 
us  this  world  as  a place  of  exile,  and 
not  as  our  true  country.  Money  and 
the  other  things  which  men  call  good 
and  desirable — we  may  have  them  in 
abundance,  or  we  may  want  them  alto- 
gether; as  far  as  eternal  happiness  is 
concerned,  it  is  no  matter;  the  only 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  151 

thing  that  is  important  is  to  use 
them  aright. 

Jesus  Christ,  when  He  redeemed  us 
with  plentiful  redemption,  took  not  away 
the  pains  and  sorrows  which  in  such 
large  proportion  make  up  the  texture  of 
our  mortal  life  ; He  transformed  them 
into  motives  of  virtue  and  occasions  of 
merit  : and  no  man  can  hope  for  eternal 
reward  unless  he  follow  in  the  blood- 
stained footprints  of  his  Savior.  “ If 
we  suffer  with  Him,  we  shall  also  reign 
with  Him.”  1 His  labors  and  his  suffer- 
ings, accepted  by  His  own  freewill, 
have  marvelously  sweetened  all  suffer- 
ing and  all  labor.  And  not  only  by  His 
example,  but  by  His  grace  and  by  the 
hope  of  everlasting  recompense,  He  has 
made  pain  and  grief  more  easy  to  en- 
dure : “For  that  which  is  at  present 

momentary  and  light  of  our  tribu- 
lation, worketh  for  us  above  measure 
exceedingly  an  eternal  weight  of 
glory.” 2 

Therefore,  those  whom  fortune  favors 
are  warned  that  freedom  from  sorrow 


1 II.  Timothy  ii,  12. 

2 II.  Corinthians  iv,  17. 


152 


ENCYCLICAL 


and  abundance  of  earthly  riches  are  no 
guarantee  of  the  beatitude  that  shall 
never  end,  but  rather  the  contrary ; 1 
that  the  rich  should  tremble  at  the 
threatenings  of  Jesus  Christ  — threaten- 
ings  so  strange  in  the  mouth  of  Our 
Lord  ; 2 and  that  a most  strict  account 
must  be  given  to  the  Supreme  Judge 
for  all  that  we  possess.  The  chiefest 
and  most  excellent  rule  for  the  right 
use  of  money  is  one  which  the  heathen 
philosophers  indicated,  but  which  the 
Church  has  traced  out  clearly,  and  has 
not  only  made  known  to  men’s  minds, 
but  has  impressed  upon  their  lives.  It 
rests  on  the  principle  that  it  is  one 
thing  to  have  a right  to  the  possession 
of  money,  and  another  to  have  a right 
to  use  money  as  one  pleases. 

Private  ownership,  as  we  have  seen,  is 
the  natural  right  of  man;  and  to  exercise 
that  right,  especially  as  members  of 
society,  is  not  only  lawful,  but  abso- 
lutely necessary.  “It  is  lawful,”  says 
St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  “for  a man  to 
hold  private  property  ; and  it  is  also 


1 St.  Matthew  xix,  23,  24. 

2 St.  Luke  vi,  24,  25. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  153 

necessary  for  the  carrying  on  of  human 
life.”  1 But  if  the  question  be  asked, 
How  must  one’s  possessions  be  used  ? 
the  Church  replies  without  hesitation  in 
the  words  of  the  same  holy  Doctor  : 
44  Man  should  not  consider  his  outward 
possessions  as  his  own,  but  as  common 
to  all,  so  as  to  share  them  without  diffi- 
culty when  others  are  in  need.  Whence 
the  Apostle  saith,  4 Command  the  rich 
of  this  world  ...  to  give  with  ease, 
to  communicate.’”2  True  no  one  is 
commanded  to  distribute  to  others  that 
which  is  required  for  his  own  necessities 
and  those  of  his  household  ; nor  even 
to  give  away  what  is  reasonably  re- 
quired to  keep  up  becomingly  his  con- 
dition in  life  ; 44  for  no  one  ought  to 
live  unbecomingly.” 3 

But  when  necessity  has  been  sup- 
plied, and  one’s  position  fairly  con- 
sidered, it  is  a duty  to  give  to  the 
indigent  out  of  that  which  is  over. 
44  That  which  remaineth,  give  alms.”  4 
It  is  a duty,  not  of  justice  (except 

1 2a  2se  Q.  lxvi.  Art.  2. 

2 2a  2se  Q.  lxv.  Art.  2. 

3 Ibid.  Q.  xxxii.  Art.  6. 

4 St,  Luke  xi,  41. 


154 


ENCYCLICAL 


in  extreme  cases),  but  of  Christian 
charity  — a duty  which  is  not  en- 
forced by  human  law.  But  the  laws 
and  judgments  of  men  must  give  place 
to  the  laws  and  judgments  of  Christ, 
the  true  God,  Who  in  many  ways  urges 
on  His  followers  the  practice  of  alms- 
giving— “It  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive;”1  and  Who  will  count 
a kindness  done  or  refused  to  the  poor 
as  done  or  refused  to  Himself — “as 
long  as  you  did  it  to  one  of  My  least 
brethren,  you  did  it  to  Me.”  2 

Thus,  to  sum  up  what  has  been  said  : 
Whoever  has  received  from  the  Di- 
vine bounty  a large  share  of  blessings, 
wThether  they  be  external  and  corporeal 
or  gifts  of  the  mind,  has  received  them 
for  the  purpose  of  using  them  for  the 
perfecting  Df  his  own  nature,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  that  he  may  employ 
them,  as  the  minister  of  God’s  Provi- 
dence, for  the  benefit  of  others.  “ He 
that  hath  a talent,”  says  St.  Gregory 
the  Great,  “ let  him  see  that  he  hide  it 
not ; he  that  hath  abundance,  let  him 


1 Acts  xx,  35. 

2 St.  Matthew  xxv,  40. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  155 

arouse  himself  to  mercy  and  generosity; 
he  that  hath  art  and  skill,  let  him  do 
his  best  to  share  the  use  and  utility 
thereof  with  his  neighbor.”  1 

As  for  those  who  do  not  possess  the 
gifts  of  fortune,  they  are  taught  by  the 
Church  that,  in  God’s  sight  poverty  is 
no  disgrace,  and  that  there  is  nothing 
to  be  ashamed  of  in  seeking’  one’s 

O 

bread  by  labor.  This  is  strengthened 
by  what  we  see  in  Christ  Him- 
self, “ Who  whereas  He  was  rich,  for 
our  sakes  became  poor;  ” 2 and  Who, 
being  the  Son  of  God,  and  God  Him- 
self, chose  to  seem  and  to  be  considered 
the  son  of  a carpenter — nay,  did  not 
disdain  to  spend  a great  part  of  his  life 
as  a carpenter  Himself.  “ Is  not  this 
the  carpenter,  the  son  of  Mary  ? ” 3 From 
the  contemplation  of  this  Divine  ex- 
ample it  is  easy  to  understand  that  the 
true  dignity  and  excellence  of  man  lies 
in  his  moral  qualities,  that  is,  in  virtue; 
that  virtue  is  the  common  inheritance  of 
all,  equally  within  the  reach  of  high  and 

1 St.  Gregory  the  Great,  Horn,  ix,  in  “ Evangel,” 
n.  7. 

2 II.  Corinthians  viii,  9. 

* St.  Mark  vi,  3. 


156 


ENCYCLICAL 


low,  rich  and  poor;  and  that  virtue,  and 
virtue  alone,  wherever  found,  will  be 
followed  by  the  rewards  of  everlasting 
happiness.  Nay,  God  Himself  seems  to 
incline  more  to  those  who  suffer  evil; 
for  Jesus  Christ  calls  the  poor  blessed;  1 
He  lovingly  invites  those  in  labor  and 
grief  to  come  to  Him  for  solace; 2 and 
he  displays  the  tenclerest  charity  to  the 
lowly  and  the  oppressed.  These  re- 
flections cannot  fail  to  keep  down  the 
pride  of  those  who  are  well  off,  and  to 
cheer  the  spirit  of  the  afflicted;  to  in- 
cline the  former  to  generosity  and  the 
latter  to  tranquil  resignation.  Thus  the 
separation  which  pride  would  make 
tends  to  disappear,  nor  will  it  be  diffi- 
cult to  make  rich  and  poor  join  hands 
in  friendly  concord. 

But,  if  Christian  precepts  prevail,  the 
two  classes  will  not  only  be  united  in 
the  bonds  of  friendship,  but  also  in  those 
of  brotherly  love.  For  they  will  under- 
stand and  feel  that  all  men  are  the  chil- 
dren of  the  common  Father,  that  is,  of 

1 St.  Matthew  v,  3:  “Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit.” 

2 Ibid,  xi,  28:  “ Come  to  Me  all  you  that  labor 
and  are  burdened,  and  I will  refresh  you.” 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  157 

God;  that  all  have  the  same  last  end, 
which  is  God  Himself,  Who  alone  can 
make  either  men  or  angels  absolutely 
and  perfectly  happy;  that  all  and  each  are 
redeemed  by  Jesus  Christ  and  raised  to 
the  dignity  of  children  of  God,  and  are 
thus  united  dn  brotherly  ties  both  with 
each  other  and  with  Jesus  Christ,  “ the 
firstborn  among  many  brethren;”  that 
the  blessings  of  nature  and  the  gifts  of 
grace  belong  in  common  to  the  whole 
human  race,  and  that  to  all,  except  to 
those  that  are  unworthy,  is  promised  the 
inheritance  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
“ If  sons,  heirs  also;  heirs  indeed  of 
God,  and  co-heirs  of  Christ.”  1 

Such  is  the  scheme  of  duties  and  of 
rights  which  is  put  forth  to  the  world  by 
the  Gospel.  Would  it  not  seem  that 
strife  must  quickly  cease  were  society 
penetrated  with  ideas  like  these. 

But  the  Church,  not  content  with 
pointing  out  the  remedy,  also  applies  it. 
For  the  Church  does  its  utmost  to  teach 
and  to  train  men,  and  to  educate  them; 
and  by  means  of  its  bishops  and  clergy 
it  diffuses  its  salutary  teachings  far  and 


1 Romans  viii,  17. 


158 


ENCYCLICAL 


wide.  It  strives  to  influence  the  mind 
and  heart  so  that  all  may  willingly 
yield  themselves  to  be  formed  and 
guided  by  the  commandments  of  God. 
It  is  precisely  in  this  fundamental  and 
principal  matter,  on  which  everything 
depends,  that  the  Church  has  a power 
peculiar  to  itself.  The  agencies  which 
it  employs  are  given  it  for  the  very  pur- 
pose of  reaching  the  hearts  of  men  by 
Jesus  Christ  Himself  and  derive  their 
efficiency  from  God.  They  alone  can 
touch  the  innermost  heart  and  con- 
science, and  bring  men  to  act  from  a 
motive  of  duty,  to  resist  their  passions 
and  appetites,  to  love  God  and  their 
fellowmen  with  a love  that  is  unique 
and  supreme,  and  courageously  to  break 
down  every  barrier  which  stands  in  the 
way  of  a virtuous  life. 

On  this  subject  We  need  only  recall 
for  one  moment  the  examples  written 
down  in  history.  Of  these  things  there 
cannot  be  the  shadow  of  doubt;  for  in- 
stance, that  civil  society  was  renovated 
in  every  part  by  the  teachings  of  Chris- 
tianity; that  in  the  strength  of  that  re- 
newal the  human  race  was  lifted  up  to 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  159 

better  things — nay,  that  it  was  brought 
back  from  death  to  life,  and  to  so  excel- 
lent a life  that  nothing  more  perfect  had 
been  known  before,  or  will  come  to 
pass  in  the  ages  that  have  yet  to 
be.  Of  this  beneficent  transformation 
Jesus  Christ  was  at  once  the  first  cause 
and  the  final  purpose;  as  from  Him  all 
came,  so  to  Him  all  was  to  be  referred. 
For  when,  by  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
message,  the  human  race  came  to  know 
the  grand  mystery  of  the  Incarnation 
of  the  Word  and  the  redemption  of 
man,  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  God  and 
Man  penetrated  every  race  and  nation, 
and  impregnated  them  with  His  faith, 
His  precepts,  and  His  laws. 

And  if  society  is  to  be  cured  now, 
in  no  other  way  can  it  be  cured  but 
by  a return  to  the  Christian  life  and 
Christian  institutions.  When  a society 
is  perishing,  the  true  advice  to  give 
to  those  who  would  restore  it  is, 
to  recall  it  to  the  principles  from 
which  it  sprang;  for  the  purpose 
and  perfection  of  an  association  is  to 
aim  at  and  to  attain  that  for  which  it 
was  formed;  and  its  operation  should 


160 


ENCYCLICAL 


be  put  in  motion  and  inspired  by  the 
end  and  object  which  originally  gave  it 
its  being.  So  that  to  fall  away  from  its 
primal  constitution  is  disease;  to  go 
back  to  it  is  recovery.  And  this  may 
be  asserted  with  the  utmost  truth  both 
of  the  state  in  general  and  of  that 
body  of  its  citizens,  by  far  the  greater 
number,  who  sustain  life  by  labor. 

Neither  must  it  be  supposed  that  the 
solicitude  of  the  Church  is  so  occupied 
with  the  spiritual  concerns  of  its  chil- 
dren as  to  neglect  their  interests  tem- 
poral and  earthly.  Its  desire  is  that  the 
poor,  for  example,  should  rise  above 
poverty  and  wretchedness,  and  should 
better  their  condition  in  life;  and  for 
this  it  strives.  By  the  very  fact  that  it 
calls  men  to  virtue  and  forms  them  to 
its  practice,  it  promotes  this  in  no  slight 
degree.  Christian  morality,  when  it 
is  adequately  and  completely  practiced, 
conduces  of  itself  to  temporal  prosper- 
ity, for  it  merits  the  blessing  of  that 
God  Who  is  the  source  of  all  blessings; 
it  powerfully  restrains  the  lust  of  posses- 
sion and  the  lust  of  pleasure  — twin 
plagues,  which  too  often  make  a man 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR . 


161 


without  self-restraint  miserable  in  the 
midst  of  abundance;1  it  makes  men 
supply  by  economy  for  the  want  of 
means,  teaching  them  to  be  content  with 
frugal  living,  and  keeping  them  out  of 
the  reach  of  those  vices  which  eat  up 
not  merely  small  incomes,  but  large  for- 
tunes, and  dissipate  many  a goodly  in- 
heritance. 

Moreover,  the  Church  intervenes  di- 
rectly in  the  interest  of  the  poor,  by 
setting  on  foot  and  keeping  up  many 
things  which  it  sees  to  be  efficacious  in 
the  relief  of  poverty.  Here  again  it 
has  always  succeeded  so  well  that  it  has 
even  extorted  the  praise  of  its  enemies. 
Such  was  the  ardor  of  brotherly  love 
among  the  earliest  Christians,  that  num- 
bers of  those  who  were  better  off  de- 
prived themselves  of  their  possessions 
in  order  to  relieve  their  brethren; 
whence  “ neither  was  there  anyone 
needy  among  them.”  2 To  the  order  of 
Deacons,  instituted  for  that  very  pur- 
pose, was  committed  by  the  apostles 
the  charge  of  the  daily  distributions; 

1 “ The  root  of  all  evils  is  cupidity.”  I.  Tim. 
vi,  10. 

2 Acts  iv,34. 

S.  P.-ll 


162 


ENCYCLICAL 


and  the  Apostle  Paul,  though  burdened 
with  the  solicitude  of  all  the  churches, 
hesitated  not  to  undertake  laborious 
journeys  in  order  to  carry  the  alms  of 
the  faithful  to  the  poorer  Christians. 
Tertullian  calls  these  contributions, 
given  voluntarily  by  Christians  in  their 
assemblies,  “ deposits  of  piety  be- 
cause, to  cite  his  words,  they  were 
employed  “in  feeding  the  needy,  in 
burying  them,  in  the  support  of  boys 
and  girls  destitute  of  means  and  de- 
prived of  their  parents,  in  the  care  of 
the  aged,  and  in  the  relief  of  the  ship- 
wrecked.” 1 

Thus  by  degrees  came  into  existence 
the  patrimony  which  the  Church  has 
guarded  with  religious  care  as  the  in- 
heritance of  the  poor.  Nay,  to  spare 
them  the  shame  of  begging,  the  com- 
mon Mother  of  rich  and  poor  has  ex- 
erted herself  to  gather  together  funds 
for  the  support  of  the  needy.  The 
Church  has  stirred  up  everywhere  the 
heroism  of  charity,  and  has  established 
congregations  of  religious  and  many 
other  useful  institutions  for  help  and 


i “Apologia  Secunda,"  xxxix. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR . 163 

mercy,  so  that  there  might  be  hardly 
any  kind  of  suffering  which  was  not  vis- 
ited and  relieved.  At  the  present  day 
there  are  many  who,  like  the  heathen  of 
old,  blame  and  condemn  the  Church  for 
this  beautiful  charity.  They  would 
substitute  in  its  place  a system  of  state 
organized  relief.  But  no  human  meth- 
ods will  ever  supply  for  the  devotion  and 
self-sacrifice  of  Christian  charity.  Char- 
ity, as  a virtue,  belongs  to  the  Church; 
for  it  is  no  virtue  unless  it  is  drawn 
from  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  Christ; 
and  he  who  turns  his  back  on  the 
Church  cannot  be  near  to  Christ. 

It  cannot,  however,  be  doubted  that 
to  attain  the  purpose  of  which  We 
treat,  not  only  the  Church,  but  all  hu- 
man means,  must  conspire.  All  who 
are  concerned  in  the  matter  must 
be  of  one  mind  and  must  act  together. 
It  is  in  this  as  in  the  Providence 
which  governs  the  world,  results  do 
not  happen  save  where  all  the  causes 
cooperate. 

Let  us  now,  therefore,  inquire  what 
part  the  state  should  play  in  the  work 
of  remedy  and  relief. 


164 


ENCYCLICAL 


By  the  state  We  here  understand, 
not  the  particular  form  of  government 
which  prevails  in  this  or  that  nation,  but 
the  state  as  rightly  understood;  that  is 
to  say,  any  government  conformable  in 
its  institutions  to  right  reason  and  nat- 
ural law,  and  to  those  dictates  of  the 
Divine  Wisdom  which  We  have  ex- 
pounded in  the  Encyclical  on  the  Chris- 
tian Constitution  of  the  State.  The 
first  duty,  therefore,  of  the  rulers  of  the 
state,  should  be  to  make  sure  that  the 
laws  and  institutions,  the  general  char- 
acter and  administration  of  the  com- 
monwealth, shall  be  such  as  to  produce 
of  themselves  public  well-being  and 
private  prosperity.  This  is  the  proper 
office  of  wise  statesmanship  and  the 
work  of  the  heads  of  the  state. 

Now,  a state  chiefly  prospers  and  flour- 
ishes by  morality,  by  well-regulated 
family  life,  by  respect  for  religion  and 
justice,  by  the  moderation  and  equal  dis- 
tribution of  public  burdens,  by  the  pro- 
gress of  the  arts  and  of  trade,  by  the 
abundant  yield  of  the  land;  by  every- 
thing which  makes  the  citizens  better  and 
happier.  Here,  then,  it  is  in  the  power 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  165 

of  a ruler  to  benefit  every  order  of  the 
state,  and  amongst  the  rest  to  promote 
in  the  highest  degree  the  interests  of 
the  poor;  and  this  by  virtue  of  his  of- 
fice, and  without  being  exposed  to  any 
suspicion  of  undue  interference — for  it 
is  the  province  of  the  commonwealth  to 
consult  for  the  common  good.  And  the 
more  that  is  done  for  the  working  pop- 
ulation by  the  general  laws  of  the 
country,  the  less  need  will  there  be  to 
seek  for  particular  means  to  relieve 
them. 

There  is  another  and  a deeper  con- 
sideration which  must  not  be  lost  sight 
of.  To  the  state  the  interests  of  all  are 
equal,  whether  high  or  low.  The  poor 
are  members  of  the  national  community 
equally  with  the  rich;  they  are  real  com- 
ponent parts,  living  parts,  which  make 
up,  through  the  family,  the  living  body; 
and  it  need  hardly  be  said  that  they  are 
by  far  the  majority.  It  would  be  irra- 
tional to  neglect  one  portion  of  the  cit- 
izens and  to  favor  another;  and  there- 
fore the  public  administration  must  duly 
and  solicitously  provide  for  the  welfare 
and  the  comfort  of  the  working  people, 


166 


ENCYCLICAL 


or  else  that  law  of  justice  will  be  vio- 
lated which  ordains  that  each  shall  have 
his  due.  To  cite  the  wise  words  of  St. 
Thomas  of  Aquin:  44  As  the  part  and 

the  whole  are  in  a certain  sense  identi- 
cal, the  part  may  in  some  sense  claim 
what  belongs  to  the  whole.”1  Among 
the  many  and  grave  duties  of  rulers  who 
would  do  their  best  for  the  people,  the 
first  and  chief  is  to  act  with  strict  jus- 
tice— with  that  justice  which  is  called, 
in  the  Schools,  44  distributive  ” — towards 
each  and  every  class. 

But  although  all  citizens,  without  ex- 
ception, can,  and  ought  to,  contribute  to 
that  common  good  in  which  individuals 
share  so  profitably  to  themselves,  yet  it 
is  not  to  be  supposed  that  all  can  con- 
tribute in  the  same  way  and  to  the  same 
extent.  No  matter  what  changes  may  be 
made  in  forms  of  government,  there  will* 
always  be  differences  and  inequalities 
of  condition  in  the  state:  Society  can- 
not exist  or  be  conceived  without  them. 
Some  there  must  be  who  dedicate  them- 
selves to  the  work  of  the  commonwealth, 
who  make  the  laws,  who  administer  jus- 


i 2a  2se  Q.  lxi.  Art  1 and  2. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  167 

tice,  whose  advice  and  authority  govern 
the  nation  in  times  of  peace,  and  defend 
it  in  war.  Such  men  clearly  occupy  the 
foremost  place  in  the  state,  and  should 
be  held  in  the  foremost  estimation,  for 
their  work  touches  most  nearly  and  ef- 
fectively the  general  interests  of  the 
community.  Those  who  labor  at  a trade 
or  calling  do  not  promote  the  general 
welfare  in  such  a fashion  as  this;  but 
they  do  in  the  most  important  way 
benefit  the  nation,  though  less  directly. 

We  have  insisted  that,  since  it  is  the 
end  of  society  to  make  men  better,  the 
chief  good  that  society  can  be  possessed 
of  is  virtue.  Nevertheless,  in  all  well- 
constituted  states  it  is  a by  no  means 
unimportant  matter  to  provide  those 
bodily  and  external  commodities,  “ the 
use  of  which  is  necessary  to  virtuous 
action.”  1 And  in  the  provision  of  ma- 
terial well-being,  the  labor  of  the 
poor,  the  exercise  of  their  skill  and 
the  employment  of  their  strength  in 
the  culture  of  the  land  and  in  the  work- 
shops of  trade,  is  most  efficacious  and 

i St.  Thomas  of  Aquin.  “ De  Regimine  Prin- 
cipiurn.”  I.  cap.  15. 


168 


ENCYCLICAL 


altogether  indispensable.  Indeed,  their 
cooperation  in  this  respect  is  so  im- 
portant that  it  may  be  truly  said 
that  it  is  only  by  the  labor  of  the 
workingman  that  states  grow  rich. 

Justice,  therefore,  demands  that  the 
interests  of  the  poorer  population  be 
carefully  watched  over  by  the  adminis- 
tration, so  that  they  wrlio  contribute  so 
largely  to  the  advantage  of  the  com- 
munity may  themselves  share  in  the 
benefits  they  create  — that  being  housed, 
clothed,  and  enabled  to  support  life, 
they  may  find  their  existence  less  hard 
and  more  endurable.  It  follows  that 
whatever  shall  appear  to  be  conducive 
to  the  well-being  of  those  who  work, 
should  receive  favorable  consideration. 
Let  it  not  be  feared  that  solicitude  of 
this  kind  will  injure  any  interest  ; on 
the  contrary,  it  will  be  to  the  advan- 
tage of  all  ; for  it  cannot  but  be  good 
for  the  commonwealth  to  secure  from 
misery  those  on  whom  it  so  largely 
depends. 

We  have  said  that  the  state  must 
not  absorb  the  individual  or  the  family  ; 
both  should  be  allowed  free  and  un- 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  169 

trammeled  action  as  far  as  is  consistent 
with  the  common  good  and  the  interest 
of  others.  Nevertheless,  rulers  should 
anxiously  safeguard  the  community  and 
all  its  parts — the  community,  because 
the  conservation  of  the  community  is  so 
emphatically  the  business  of  the  su- 
preme power,  that  the  safety  of  the 
commonwealth  is  not  only  the  first  law, 
but  it  is  a government’s  whole  reason 
of  existence  ; and  the  parts,  because 
both  philosophy  and  the  Gospel  agree 
in  laying  down  that  the  object  of  the 
administration  of  the  state  should  be, 
not  the  advantage  of  the  ruler,  but  the 
benefit  of  those  over  whom  he  rules. 
The  gift  of  authority  is  from  God,  and 
is,  as  it  were,  a participation  of  the 
highest  of  all  sovereignties  ; and  it 
should  be  exercised  as  the  power  of 
God  is  exercised  — with  a fatherly  so- 
licitude which  not  only. guides  the  whole, 
but  reaches  to  details  as  well. 

Whenever  the  general  interest  of  any 
particular  class  suffers,  or  is  threatened 
with  evils  which  can  in  no  other  way 
be  met,  the  public  authority  must  step 
in  to  meet  them.  Now,  among  the  in- 


170 


ENCYCLICAL 


terests  of  the  public,  as  of  private  indi- 
viduals, are  these  : That  peace  and  good 
order  should  be  maintained  ; that 
family  life  should  be  carried  on  in  ac- 
cordance with  God’s  laws  and  those  of 
nature  ; that  Religion  should  be  rever- 
enced and  obeyed  ; that  a high  standard 
of  morality  should  prevail  in  public  and 
private  life  ; that  the  sanctity  of  justice 
should  be  respected,  and  that  no  one 
should  injure  another  with  impunity ; 
that  the  members  of  the  commonwealth 
should  grow  up  to  man’s  estate  strong 
and  robust,  and  capable,  if  need  be,  of 
guarding  and  defending  their  country. 
If  by  a strike,  or  other  combination  of 
workmen,  there  should  be  imminent 
danger  of  disturbance  to  the  public 
peace ; or  if  circumstances  were  such 
that  among  the  laboring  population  the 
ties  of  family  life  were  relaxed  ; if 
Religion  were  found  to  suffer  through 
the  workmen  not  having  time  and  op- 
portunity to  practice  it  ; if  in  work- 
shops and  factories  there  were  danger  to 
morals  through  the  mixing  of  the  sexes 
or  from  any  occasion  of  evil  ; or  if  em- 
ployers laid  burdens  upon  the  wTork- 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LA  EOF.  J71 

men  which  were  unjust,  or  degraded 
them  with  conditions  that  were  repug- 
nant to  their  dignity  as  human  beings  ; 
finally,  if  health  were  endangered  by 
excessive  labor,  or  by  work  unsuited  to 
sex  or  age — in  these  cases,  there  can 
be  no  question  that,  within  certain  lim- 
its, it  would  be  right  to  call  in  the  help 
and  authority  of  the  law.  The  limits 
must  be  determined  by  the  nature  of 
the  occasion  which  calls  for  the  law’s 
interference  — the  principle  being  this, 
that  the  law  must  not  undertake  more, 
or  go  further,  than  is  required  for  the 
remedy  of  the  evil  or  the  removal  of 
the  danger. 

Rights  must  be  religiously  respected 
wherever  they  are  found  ; and  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  public  authority  to  prevent 
and  punish  injury,  and  to  protect  each 
one  in  the  possession  of  his  own.  Still, 
when  there  is  question  of  protecting  the 
rights  of  individuals,  the  poor  and  help- 
less have  a claim  to  special  considera- 
tion. The  richer  population  have  many 
ways  of  protecting  themselves,  and 
stand  less  in  need  of  help  from  the 
state  ; those  who  are  badly  off  have  no 


172 


ENCYCLICAL 


resources  of  their  own  to  fall  back  upon, 
and  must  chiefly  rely  upon  the  assist- 
ance of  the  state.  And  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  wage-earners,  who  are  un- 
doubtedly among  the  weak  and  neces- 
sitous, should  be  specially  cared  for  and 
protected  by  the  commonwealth. 

Here,  however,  it  will  be  advisable  to 
advert  expressly  to  one  or  two  of  the 
more  important  details.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  chief  thing  to  be 
secured  is  the  safeguarding,  by  legal 
enactment  and  policy,  of  private  prop- 
erty. Most  of  all  is  it  essential  in  these 
times  of  covetous  greed,  to  keep  the 
multitude  within  the  line  of  duty  ; for 
if  all  may  justly  strive  to  better  their 
condition,  yet  neither  justice  nor  the 
common  good  allows  anyone  to  seize 
that  which  belongs  to  another,  or,  under 
the  pretext  of  futile  and  ridiculous 
equality,  to  lay  hands  on  other  people’s 
fortunes. 

It  is  most  true  that  by  far  the 
larger  part  of  the  people  who  work 
prefer  to  improve  themselves  by  honest 
labor  rather  than  by  doing  wrong  to 
others.  But  there  are  not  a few  who 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  173 

are  imbued  with  bad  principles  and  are 
anxious  for  revolutionary  change,  and 
whose  great  purpose  it  is  to  stir  up 
tumult  and  bring  about  a policy  of 
violence.  The  authority  of  the  state 
should  intervene  to  put  restraint  upon 
these  disturbers,  to  save  the  workmen 
from  their  seditious  arts,  and  to  protect 
lawful  owners  from  spoliation. 

When  work  people  have  recourse  to 
a strike,  it  is  frequently  because  the 
hours  of  labor  are  too  long,  or  the  work 
too  hard,  or  because  they  consider  their 
wages  insufficient.  The  grave  incon- 
venience of  this  not  uncommon  occur- 
rence should  be  obviated  by  public 
remedial  measures  ; for  such  paralysis 
of  labor  not  only  affects  the  masters 
and  their  work  people,  but  is  extremely 
injurious  to  trade,  and  to  the  general 
interests  of  the  public  ; moreover,  on 
such  occasions  violence  and  disorder 
are  generally  not  far  off,  and  thus  it 
frequently  happens  that  the  public 
peace  is  threatened.  The  laws  should  be 
beforehand,  and  prevent  these  troubles 
from  arising:  they  should  lend  their  in- 
fluence and  authority  to  the  removal  in 


174 


ENCYCLICAL 


good  time  of  the  causes  which  lead  to 
conflicts  between  masters  and  those 
whom  they  employ. 

But  if  the  owners  of  property  must  be 
made  secure,  the  workman,  too,  has 
property  and  possessions  in  which  he 
must  be  protected  ; and,  first  of  all, 
there  are  his  spiritual  and  mental  inter- 
ests. Life,  on  earth,  however  good  and 
desirable  in  itself,  is  not  the -final  pur- 
pose for  which  man  is  created  ; it  is 
only  the  way  and  the  means  to  that 
attainment  of  truth,  and  that  practice  of 
goodness,  in  which  the  full  life  of  the 
soul  consists.  It  is  the  soul  which  is 
made  after  the  image  and  likeness  of 
God  ; it  is  in  the  soul  that  sovereignty 
resides,  in  virtue  of  which  man  is  com- 
manded to  rule  the  creatures  below  him, 
and  to  uso  all  the  earth  and^  the  ocean 
for  his  profit  and  advantage.  66  Fill  the 
earth  and  subdue  it  ; and  rule  over  the 
fishes  of  the  sea,  and  the  fowls  of  the 
air,  and  all  living  creatures  which  move 
upon  the  earth.”1  In  this  respect  all 
men  are  equal  ; there  is  no  difference 
between  rich  and  poor,  master  and 


i Genesis  i,  28. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR,  175 

servant,  ruler  and  ruled,  “ for  the  same 
is  lord  over  all.”  1 No  man  may  out- 
rage with  impunity  that  human  dignity 
which  God  Himself  treats  with  rever- 
ence, nor  stand  in  the  way  of  that  higher 
life  which  is  the  preparation  for  the 
eternal  life  of  Heaven. 

Nay,  more  ; a man  has  here  no  power 
over  himself.  To  consent  to  any  treat- 
ment which  is  calculated  to  defeat  the 
end  and  purpose  of  his  being  is  beyond 
his  right ; he  cannot  give  up  his  soul  to 
servitude;  for  it  is  not  man’s  own  rights 
which  are  here  in  question,  but  the 
rights  of  God,  most  sacred  and  in- 
violable. 

From  this  follows  the  obligation  of 
the  cessation  of  work  and  labor  on 
Sundays  and  certain  festivals.  This 
rest  from  labor  is  not  to  be  understood 
as  mere  idleness;  much  less  must  it  be 
an  occasion  of  spending  money  and  of 
vicious  excess,  as  many  would  desire  it 
to  be;  but  it  should  be  rest  from  labor 
consecrated  by  Religion.  Repose  united 
with  religious  observance  disposes  man 
to  forget  for  a while  the  business  of  this 


i Romans  x,  12. 


176 


ENCYCLICAL 


daily  life,  and  to  turn  his  thoughts  to 
heavenly  things  and  to  the  worship 
which  he  so  strictly  owes  to  the  Eternal 
Deity.  It  is  this,  above  all,  which  is 
the  reason  and  motive  of  the  Sunday 
rest;  a rest  sanctioned  by  God’s  great 
law  of  the  ancient  covenant,  “ Remem- 
ber thou  keep  holy  the  Sabbath  Day,”  1 
and  taught  to  the  world  by  His  own 
mysterious  “ rest  ” after  the  creation  of 
man;  “ He  rested  on  the  seventh  day 
from  all  His  work  which  He  had 
done.”  2 

If  we  turn  now  to  things  exterior  and 
corporeal,  the  first  concern  of  all  is  to 
save  the  poor  workers  from  the  cruelty 
of  grasping  speculators,  who  use  human 
beings  as  mere  instruments  for  making 
money.  It  is  neither  justice  nor  hu- 
manity so  to  grind  men  down  with  ex- 
cessive labor  as  to  stupefy  their  minds 
and  wear  out  their  bodies.  Man’s 
powers,  like  his  general  nature,  are 
limited,  and  beyond  these  limits  he  can- 
not go.  His  strength  is  developed  and 
increased  by  use  and  exercise,  but  only 


1 Exod.  xx,  8. 

2 Genesis  ii,  2. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  177 

on  condition  of  due  intermission  and 
proper  rest.  Daily  labor,  therefore, 
must  be  so  regulated  that  it  may  not  be 
protracted  during  longer  hours  than 
strength  admits.  How  many  and  how 
long  the  intervals  of  rest  should  be, 
will  depend  on  the  nature  of  the  work, 
on  circumstances  of  time  and  place,  and 
on  the  health  and  strength  of  the  work- 
man. Those  who  labor  in  mines  and 
quarries,  and  in  work  within  the  bowels 
of  the  earth,  should  have  shorter  hours 
in  proportion  as  their  labor  is  more  se- 
vere and  more  trying  to  health.  Then, 
again,  the  season  of  the  year  must  be 
taken  into  account;  for  not  unfrequently 
a kind  of  labor  is  easy  at  one  time  which 
at  another  is  intolerable  or  very  difficult. 

Finally,  work  which  is  suitable  for  a 
strong  man  cannot  reasonably  be  re- 
quired from  a woman  or  a child.  And, 
in  regard  to  children,  great  care  should 
be  taken  not  to  place  them  in  work- 
shops and  factories  until  their  bodies 
and  minds  are  sufficiently  mature.  For 
just  as  rough  weather  destroys  the  buds 
of  spring,  so  too  early  an  experience  of 
life’s  hard  work  blights  the  young 
s.  P— 12 


178 


ENCYCLICAL 


promise  of  a child’s  powers,  and  makes 
any  real  education  impossible.  Women, 
again,  are  not  suited  to  certain  trades; 
for  a woman  is  by  nature  fitted  for 
home  work,  and  it  is  that  which  is  best 
adapted  at  once  to  preserve  her  mod- 
esty and  to  promote  the  good  bringing 
up  of  children  and  the  well-being  of 
the  family.  As  a general  principle  it 
may  be  laid  down  that  a workman 
ought  to  have  leisure  and  rest  in  pro- 
portion to  the  wear  and  tear  of  his 
strength;  for  the  waste  of  strength  must 
be  repaired  by  the  cessation  of  work. 

In  all  agreements  between  masters 
and  work  people  there  is  always  the 
condition,  expressed  or  understood,  that 
there  be  allowed  proper  rest  for  soul 
and  body.  To  agree  in  any  other  sense 
would  be  against  what  is  right  and 
just;  for  it  can  never  be  right  or  just 
to  require  on  the  one  side,  or  to  prom- 
ise on  the  other,  the  giving  up  of  those 
duties  which  a man  owes  to  his  God  and 
to  himself. 

We  now  approach  a subject  of  very 
great  importance,  and  one  on  which,  if 
extremes  are  to  be  avoided,  right  ideas 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  179 

are  absolutely  necessary.  Wages,  we 
are  told,  are  fixed  by  free  consent;  and 
therefore  the  employer,  when  he  pays 
what  was  agreed  upon,  has  done  his 
part  and  is  not  called  upon  for  anything 
further.  The  only  way,  it  is  said,  in 
which  injustice  could  happen  would  be 
if  the  master  refused  to  pay  the  whole 
of  the  wages,  or  the  workman  would 
not  complete  the  work  undertaken; 
when  this  happens  the  state  should  in- 
tervene, to  see  that  each  obtains  his 
own,  but  not  under  any  other  circum- 
stances. 

This  mode  of  reasoning  is  by  no 
means  convincing  to  a fair-minded  man, 
for  there  are  important  considerations 
which  it  leaves  out  of  view  altogether. 
To  labor  is  to  exert  one’s  self  for  the 
sake  of  procuring  what  is  necessary 
for  the  purposes  of  life,  and  most  of 
all  for  self-preservation.  “ In  the 
sweat  of  thy  brow  thou  shall  eat 
bread.”1  Therefore,  a man’s  labor  has 
two  notes  or  characters. 

First  of  all,  it  is  personal  ; for  the 
exertion  of  individual  power  belongs  to 


i Genesis  iii,  19. 


180 


ENCYCLICAL 


the  individual  who  puts  it  forth,  employ- 
ing this  power  for  that  personal  profit 
for  wrhich  it  was  given. 

Secondly,  man’s  labor  is  necessary ; 
for  without  the  results  of  labor  a man 
cannot  live ; and  self-conservation  is 
a law  of  Nature,  which  it  is  wrong  to 
disobey.  Now  if  we  were  to  consider 
labor  merely  so  far  as  it  is  personal, 
doubtless  it  would  be  within  the  work- 
man’s right  to  accept  any  rate  of  wages 
whatever  ; for  in  the  same  way  as  he  is 
free  to  work  or  not,  so  he  is  free  to 
accept  a small  remuneration  or  even 
none  at  all.  But  this  is  a mere  abstract 
supposition  ; the  labor  of  the  working- 
man is  not  only  his  personal  attribute, 
but  it  is  necessary  ; and  this  makes  all 
the  difference.  The  preservation  of 
life  is  the  bounden  duty  of  each  and  all, 
and  to  fail  therein  is  a crime.  It  follows 
that  each  one  has  a right  to  procure 
what  is  required  in  order  to  live  ; and 
the  poor  can  procure  it  in  no  other  way 
than  by  work  and  wages. 

Let  it  be  granted,  then,  that  as  a rule, 
workman  and  employer  should  make 
free  agreements,  and  in  particular 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  181 

should  freely  agree  as  to  wages  ; never- 
theless, there  is  a dictate  of  nature  more 
imperious  and  more  ancient  than  any 
bargain  between  man  and  man,  that  the 
remuneration  must  be  enough  to  support 
the  wage-earner  in  reasonable  and 
frugal  comfort.  If  through  necessity  or 
fear  of  a worse  evil,  the  workman 
accepts  harder  conditions  because  an 
employer  or  a contractor  will  give  him 
no  better,  he  is  the  victim  of  force  and 
injustice.  In  these  and  similar  ques- 
tions, however  — such  as,  for  example, 
the  hours  of  labor  in  different  trades, 
the  sanitary  precautions  to  be  observed 
in  factories  and  workshops,  etc. — in 
order  to  supersede  undue  interference 
on  the  part  of  the  state,  especially  as 
circumstances,  times,  and  localities 
differ  so  widely,  it  is  advisable  that  re- 
course be  had  to  societies  or  boards 
such  as  We  shall  mention  presently,  or 
to  some  other  method  of  safeguarding 
the  interests  of  wage -earners  ; the  state 
to  be  asked  for  approval  and  protec- 
tion. 

If  a workman’s  wages  be  sufficient  to 
enable  him  to  maintain  himself,  his  wife, 


182 


ENCYCLICAL 


and  his  children  in  reasonable  comfort, 
he  will  not  find  it  difficult,  if  he  is  a 
sensible  man,  to  study  economy  ; and 
he  will  not  fail,  by  cutting  down  ex- 
penses, to  put  by  a little  property : 
nature  and  reason  would  urge  him  to 
this.  We  have  seen  that  this  great 
labor  question  cannot  be  solved  except 
by  assuming  as  a principle  that  private 
ownership  must  be  held  sacred  and  in- 
violable. The  law,  therefore,  should 
favor  ownership,  and  its  policy  should 
be  to  induce  as  many  of  the  people  as 
possible  to  become  owners. 

Many  excellent  results  will  follow 
from  this  ; and  first  of  all,  property  will 
certainly  become  more  equitably  divided. 
For  the  effect  of  civil  change  and  revo- 
lution has  been  to  divide  society  into 
two  widely  differing  castes.  On  the 
one  side  there  is  the  party  which  holds 
the  power  because  it  holds  the  wealth  ; 
which  has  in  its  grasp  all  labor  and  all 
trade,  which  manipulates  for  its  own 
benefit  and  its  own  purposes  all  the 
sources  of  supply,  and  which  is  power- 
fully represented  in  the  councils  of  the 
state  itself.  On  the  other  side  there  is 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR . 183 

the  needy  and  powerless  multitude, 
sore  and  suffering,  and  always  ready 
for  disturbance.  If  working  people  can 
be  encouraged  to  look  forward  to  ob- 

o 

taining  a share  in  the  land,  the  result 
will  be  that  the  gulf  between  vast 
wealth  and  deep  poverty  will  be  bridged 
over,  and  the  two  orders  will  be  brought 
nearer  together.  Another  consequence 
will  be  the  greater  abundance  of  the 
fruits  of  the  earth.  Men  always  work 
harder  and  more  readily  when  they  work 
on  that  which  is  their  own  ; nay,  they 
learn  to  love  the  very  soil  which  yields 
in  response  to  the  labor  of  their  hands, 
not  only  food  to  eat,  but  an  abundance 
of  good  things  for  themselves  and 
those  that  are  dear  to  them.  It  is 
evident  how  such  a spirit  of  willing 
labor  would  add  to  the  produce  of 
the  earth  and  to  the  wealth  of  the  com- 
munity. And  a third  advantage 
would  arise  from  this  : Men  would 

cling  to  the  country  in  which  they 
were  born  ; for  no  one  would  exchange 
his  country  for  a foreign  land  if 
his  own  afforded  him  the  means  of 
living  a tolerable  and  happy  life. 


184 


ENCYCLICAL 


These  three  important  benefits,  how- 
ever, can  only  be  expected  on  the  condi- 
tion that  a man’s  means  be  not  drained 
and  exhausted  by  excessive  taxation. 
The  right  to  possess  private  property  is 
from  nature,  not  from  man;  and  the  state 
has  only  the  right  to  regulate  its  use  in 
the  interests  of  the  public  good,  but 
by  no  means  to  abolish  it  altogether. 
The  state  is,  therefore,  unjust  and 
cruel  if,  in  the  name  of  taxation,  it 
deprives  the  private  owner  of  more 
than  is  just. 

In  the  last  place,  employers  and 
workmen  may  themselves  effect  much  in 
the  matter  of  which  We  treat,  by  means 
of  those  institutions  and  organizations 
which  afford  opportune  assistance  to 
those  in  need,  and  which  draw  the  two 
orders  more  closely  together.  Among 
these  may  be  enumerated:  societies  for 
mutual  help;  various  foundations  estab- 
lished by  private  persons  for  providing 
for  the  workman,  and  for  his  widow  or 
his  orphans,  in  sudden  calamity,  in  sick- 
ness, and  in  the  event  of  death;  and 
what  are  called  “ patronages  ” or  institu- 
tions for  the  care  of  boys  and  girls,  for 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  185 

young  people,  and  also  for  those  of  more 
mature  age. 

The  most  important  of  all  are  work- 
men’s associations;  for  these  virtually 
include  all  the  rest.  History  attests 
what  excellent  results  were  effected  by 
the  artificers’  guilds  of  a former  day. 
They  were  the  means  not  only  of  many 
advantages  to  the  workmen,  but  in  no 
small  degree  of  the  advancement  of  art, 
as  numerous  monuments  remain  to  prove. 
Such  associations  should  be  adapted  to 
the  requirements  of  the  age  in  which 
we  live — an  age  of  greater  instruction 
of  different  customs,  and  of  more  nu- 
merous requirements  in  daily  life.  It  is 
gratifying  to  know  that  there  are  actually 
in  existence  not  a few  societies  of  this 
nature,  consisting  either  of  workmen 
alone  or  of  workmen  and  employers  to- 
gether; but  it  were  greatly  to  be  desired 
that  they  should  multiply  and  become 
more  effective.  We  have  spoken  of  them 
more  than  once;  but  it  will  be  well  to  ex- 
plain here  how  much  they  are  needed, 
to  show  that  they  exist  by  their  own 
right,  and  to  enter  into  their  organiza- 
tion and  their  work. 


186 


ENCYCLICAL 


The  experience  of  his  own  weakness 
urges  man  to  call  in  help  from  without. 
We  read  in  the  pages  of  Holy  Writ: 
“ It  is  better  that  two  should  be  to- 
gether than  one;  for  they  have  the 
advantage  of  their  society.  If  one  fall 
he  shall  be  supported  by  the  other.  Woe 
to  him  that  is  alone,  for  when  he  falleth 
he  hath  none  to  lift  him  up.” 1 And 
further:  “ A brother  that  is  helped  by 
his  brother  is  like  a strong  city.”  2 It  is 
this  natural  impulse  which  unites  men  in 
civil  society;  and  it  is  this  also  which 
makes  them  band  themselves  together  in 
associations  of  citizen  with  citizen;  asso- 
ciations which,  it  is  true,  cannot  be  called 
societies  in  the  complete  sense  of  the 
word,  but  which  are  societies  neverthe- 
less. 

These  lesser  societies  and  the  so- 
ciety which  constitutes  the  state,  differ 
in  many  things,  because  their  immediate 
purpose  and  end  is  different.  Civil 
society  exists  for  the  common  good,  and 
therefore  is  concerned  with  the  interests 
of  all  in  general,  and  with  individual 


1 Ecclesiastes  iv,  9-10. 

2 Proverbs  xviii,  19. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  187 

interests  in  their  due  place  and  propor- 
tion. Hence  it  is  called  public  society, 
because  by  its  means,  as  St.  Thomas  of 
Aquin  says,  “ Men  communicate  with 
one  another  in  the  setting  up  of  a com- 
monwealth.” 1 But  the  societies  which 
are  found  in  the  bosom  of  the  state  are 
called  private,  and  justly  so,  because 
their  immediate  purpose  is  the  private 
advantage  of  the  associates.  “ Now  a 
private  society,”  says  St.  Thomas  again, 
“ is  one  wThich  is  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  out  private  business;  as 
when  two  or  three  enter  into  a partner- 
ship with  the  view  of  trading  in  con- 
junction.” 2 

Particular  societies,  then,  although 
they  exist  within  the  state,  and  are 
each  a part  of  the  state,  neverthe- 
less cannot  be  prohibited  by  the  state 
absolutely  and  as  such.  For  to  enter 
into  “society”  of  this  kind  is  the 
natural  right  of  man;  and  the  state 
must  protect  natural  rights,  not  destroy 
them;  and  if  it  forbids  its  citizens  to 
form  associations,  it  contradicts  the 

1 “ Contra  impugnantes  Dei  cultum  et  Relig- 
ionem.”  Cap.  II. 

2 Ibid. 


188 


ENCYCLICAL 


very  principle  of  its  own  existence; 
for  both  they  and  it  exist  in  virtue  of 
the  same  principle,  viz.,  the  natural  pro- 
pensity of  man  to  live  in  society. 

There  are  times,  no  doubt,  when  it  is 
right  that  the  law  should  interfere  to 
prevent  association;  as  when  men  join 
together  for  purposes  which  are  evi- 
dently bad,  unjust,  or  dangerous  to  the 
state.  In  such  cases  the  public  author- 
ity may  justly  forbid  the  formation  of 
associations,  and  may  dissolve  them 
when  they  already  exist.  But  every  pre- 
caution should  be  taken  not  to  violate 
the  rights  of  individuals  and  not  to 
make  unreasonable  regulations  under 
the  pretense  of  public  benefit.  For 
laws  only  bind  when  they  are  in  accord- 
ance with  right  reason,  and  therefore 
with  the  eternal  law  of  God.1 

And  here  we  are  reminded  of  the  con- 
fraternities, societies,  and  religious 
orders,  which  have  arisen  by  the 
Church’s  authority  and  the  piety  of  the 

i “ Human  law  is  law  only  in  virtue  of  its  accord- 
ance with  right  reason : and  thus  it  is  manifest 
that  it  flows  from  the  eternal  law.  And  in  so  far 
as  it  deviates  from  right  reason  it  is  called  an  un- 
just law;  in  such  case  it  is  not  law  at  all,  hut 
rather  a species  of  violence.” — St.  Thomas  of 
Aquin,  “ Summa  Theoligica,”  la  2se  Q.  xcii.  Art.  3.” 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  189 

Christian  people.  The  annals  of  every 
nation  down  to  our  own  times  testify  to 
what  they  have  done  for  the  human 
race.  It  is  indisputable  on  grounds  of 
reason  alone,  that  such  associations, 
being  perfectly  blameless  in  their 
objects,  have  the  sanction  of  the  law  of 
nature.  On  their  religious  side  they 
rightly  claim  to  be  responsible  to  the 
Church  alone.  The  administrators  of 
the  state,  therefore,  have  no  rights  over 
them,  nor  can  they  claim  any  share  in 
their  management;  on  the  contrary,  it 
is  the  state’s  duty  to  respect  and  cherish 
them,  and,  if  necessary,  to  defend  them 
from  attack.  It  is  notorious  that  a very 
different  course  has  been  followed,  more 
especially  in  our  own  times.  In  many 
places  the  state  has  laid  violent  hands 
on  these  communities,  and  committed 
manifold  injustice  against  them;  it  has 
placed  them  under  the  civil  law,  taken 
away  their  rights  as  corporate  bodies, 
and  robbed  them  of  their  property.  In 
such  property  the  Church  had  her  rights, 
each  member  of  the  body  had  his  or  her 
rights,  and  there  were  also  the  rights  of 
those  who  had  founded  or  endowed 


190 


ENCYCLICAL 


them  for  a definite  purpose,  and  of 
those  for  whose  benefit  and  assistance 
they  existed.  Wherefore  We  cannot 
refrain  from  complaining  of  such  spolia- 
tion as  unjust  and  fraught  with  evil  re- 
sults; and  with  the  more  reason  because, 
at  the  very  time  when  the  law  proclaims 
that  association  is  free  to  all,  We  see 
that  Catholic  societies,  however  peace- 
able and  useful,  are  hindered  in  every 
way,  whilst  the  utmost  freedom  is  given 
to  men  whose  objects  are  at  once  hurt- 
ful to  religion  and  dangerous  to  the 
state. 

Associations  of  every  kind,  and 
especially  those  of  workingmen,  are  now 
far  more  common  than  formerly.  In  re- 
gard to  many  of  these  there  is  no  need 
at  present  to  inquire  whence  they  spring, 
what  are  their  objects,  or  what  means 
they  use.  But  there  is  a good  deal  of 
evidence  which  goes  to  prove  that  many 
of  these  societies  are  in  the  hands  of 
invisible  leaders,  and  are  managed  on 
principles  far  from  compatible  with 
Christianity  and  the  public  well-being; 
and  that  they  do  their  best  to  get  into 
their  hands  the  whole  field  of  labor  and 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  191 

to  force  workmen  either  to  join  them  or 
to  starve.  Under  these  circumstances 
Christian  workmen  must  do  one  of  two 
things;  either  join  associations  in  which 
their  religion  will  be  exposed  to  peril, 
or  form  associations  among  themselves — 
unite  their  forces  and  courageously 
shake  off  the  yoke  of  an  unjust  and 
intolerable  oppression.  No  one  who 
does  not  wish  to  expose  man’s  chief 
good  to  extreme  danger  will  hesitate  to 
say  that  the  second  alternative  must  by 
all  means  be  adopted. 

Those  Catholics  are  worthy  of  all 
praise — and  there  are  not  a few — who, 
understanding  what  the  times  require, 
have,  by  various  enterprises  and  experi- 
ments, endeavored  to  better  the  condi- 
tion of  the  working  people  without  any 
sacrifice  of  principle.  They  have  taken 
up  the  cause  of  the  workingman,  and 
have  striven  to  make  both  families  and 
individuals  better  off;  to  infuse  the 
spirit  of  justice  into  the  mutual  rela- 
tions of  employer  and  employed;  to  keep 
before  the  eyes  of  both  classes  the  pre- 
cepts of  duty  and  the  laws  of  the 
Gospel — that  Gospel  which,  by  incul- 


192 


ENCYCLICAL 


eating  self-restraint,  keeps  men  within 
the  bounds  of  moderation,  and  tends 
to  establish  harmony  among  the  di- 
vergent interests  and  various  classes 
which  compose  the  state.  It  is  with 
such  ends  in  view  that  We  see  men  of 
eminence  meeting  together  for  discus- 
sion, for  the  promotion  of  united  action, 
and  for  practical  work.  Others,  again, 
strive  to  unite  working  people  of  va- 
rious kinds  into  associations,  help  them 
with  their  advice  and  their  means,  and 
enable  them  to  obtain  honest  and  profit- 
able work.  The  bishops,  on  their  part, 
bestow  their  ready  good  will  and  sup- 
port: and  with  their  approval  and  guid- 
ance many  members  of  the  clergy,  both 
secular  and  regular,  labor  assiduously 
on  behalf  of  the  spiritual  and  mental 
interests  of  the  members  of  associa- 
tions. 

And  there  are  not  wanting  Catholics 
possessed  of  affluence  who  have,  as 
it  were,  cast  in  their  lot  with  the 
wage-earners,  and  who  have  spent 
large  sums  in  founding  and  widely 
spreading  Benefit  and  Insurance  So- 
cieties, by  means  of  which  the  work- 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  193 

ingman  may  without  difficulty  acquire 
by  his  labor  not  only  many  present  ad- 
vantages, but  also  the  certainty  of  hon- 
orable support  in  time  to  come.  How 
much  this  multiplied  and  earnest  activ- 
ity has  benefited  the  community  at 
large,  is  too  well  known  to  require  Us 
to  dwell  upon  it.  We  find  in  it  the 
grounds  of  the  most  cheering  hope  for 
the  future;  provided  that  the  associa- 
tions We  have  described  continue  to 
grow  and  spread,  and  are  well  and 
wisely  administered.  Let  the  state 
watch  over  these  societies  of  citizens 
united  together  in  the  exercise  of  their 
right;  but  let  it  not  thrust  itself  into 
their  peculiar  concerns  and  their  organ- 
ization; for  things  move  and  live  by  the 
soul  within  them,  and  they  may  be 
killed  by  the  grasp  of  a hand  from 
without. 

In  order  that  an  association  may  be 
carried  on  with  unity  of  purpose  and 
harmony  of  action,  its  organization  and 
government  must  be  firm  and  wise.  All 
such  societies  being  free  to  exist,  have 
the  further  right  to  adopt  such  rules  and 
organization  as  may  best  conduce  to  the 
s.  P.-13 


194 


ENCYCLICAL 


attainment  of  their  objects.  We  do 
not  deem  it  possible  to  enter  into  defi- 
nite details  on  the  subject  of  organiza- 
tion; this  must  depend  on  national  char- 
acter, on  practice  and  experience,  on 
the  nature  and  scope  of  the  work  to  be 
done,  on  the  magnitude  of  the  various 
trades  and  employments,  and  on  other 
circumstances  of  fact  and  of  time 
— all  of  which  must  be  carefully 
weighed. 

Speaking  summarily,  we  may  lay 
it  down  as  a general  and  perpetual  law, 
that  workmen’s  associations  should  be 
so  organized  and  governed  as  to  furnish 
the  best  and  most  suitable  means  for 
attaining  what  is  aimed  at,  that  is  to  say, 
for  helping  each  individual  member  to 
better  his  condition  to  the  utmost  in 
body,  mind,  and  property.  It  is  clear 
that  they  must  pay  special  and  princi- 
pal attention  to  piety  and  morality,  and 
that  their  internal  discipline  must  be 
directed  precisely  by  these  considera- 
tions; otherwise  they  entirely  lose  their 
special  character,  and  come  to  be  very 
little  better  than  those  societies  which 
take  no  account  of  Religion  at  all.  What 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  195 

advantage  can  it  be  to  a workman  to  ob- 
tain by  means  of  a society  all  that  lie 
requires,  and  to  endanger  his  soul  for 
want  of  spiritual  food?  “ What  doth 
it  profit  a man  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  suffer  the  loss  of  his  own 
soul?”1  This,  as  our  Lord  teaches,  is 
the  note  or  character  that  distinguishes 
the  Christian  from  the  heathen.  “ After 
all  these  things  do  the  heathens  seek. 

. Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of 
God  and  His  justice,  and  all  these 
things  shall  be  added  unto  you.”2  Let 
our  associations,  then,  look  first  and 
before  all  to  God;  let  religious  in- 
struction have  therein  a foremost  place, 
each  one  being  carefully  taught  what  is 
his  duty  to  God,  what  to  believe,  what 
to  hope  for,  and  how  to  work  out  his 
salvation;  and  let  all  be  warned  and 
fortified  with  especial  solicitude  against 
wrong  opinions  and  false  teaching. 
Let  the  workingman  be  urged  and 
led  to  the  worship  of  God,  to  the  earnest 
practice  of  religion,  and,  among  other 
things,  to  the  sanctification  of  Sundays 


1 St.  Matthew  xvi,  26. 

2 St.  Matthew  vi,  32-33. 


196 


ENCYCLICAL 


and  festivals.  Let  him  learn  to  rever- 
ence and  love  Holy  Church,  the  common 
mother  of  us  all ; and  so  to  obey  the 
precepts  and  to  frequent  the  Sacraments 
of  the  Church,  those  Sacraments  being 
the  means  ordained  by  God  for  obtain- 
ing forgiveness  of  sin  and  for  leading  a 
holy  life. 

The  foundations  of  the  organization 
being  laid  in  Religion,  We  next  go  on 
to  determine  the  relations  of  the  mem- 
bers one  to  another,  in  order  that  they 
may  live  together  in  concord  and  go  on 
prosperously  and  successfully.  The 
offices  and  charges  of  the  society  should 
be  distributed  for  the  good  of  the  so- 
ciety itself,  and  in  such  manner  that 
difference  in  degree  or  position  should 
not  interfere  with  unanimity  and  good 
will.  Office-bearers  should  be  ap- 
pointed with  prudence  and  discretion, 
and  each  one’s  charge  should  be  care- 
fully marked  out ; thus  no  member  will 
suffer  wrong.  Let  the  common  funds 
be  administered  with  the  strictest  hon- 
esty, in  such  way  that  a member  receive 
assistance  in  proportion  to  his  neces- 
sities. The  rights  and  duties  of  em- 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  197 

plojers  should  be  the  subject  of  careful 
consideration  as  compared  with  the 
rights  and  duties  of  the  employed.  If 
it  should  happen  that  either  a master  or 
a workman  deemed  himself  injured, 
nothing  would  be  more  desirable  than 
that  there  should  be  a committee  com- 
posed of  honest  and  capable  men  of  the 
association  itself,  whose  duty  it  should 
be,  by  the  laws  of  the  association,  to 
decide  the  dispute.  Among  the  pur- 
poses of  a society  should  be  to  try  to 
arrange  for  a continuous  supply  of 
work  at  all  times  and  seasons  ; and  to 
create  a fund  from  which  the  members 
may  be  helped  in  their  necessities,  not 
only  in  cases  of  accident,  but  also  in 
sickness,  old  age  and  misfortune. 

Such  rules  and  regulations,  if  obeyed 
willingly  by  all,  will  sufficiently  insure 
the  well-being  of  poor  people  ; whilst 
such  mutual  associations  among  Cath- 
olics are  certain  to  be  productive,  in  no 
small  degree,  of  prosperity  to  the  state. 
It  is  not  rash  to  conjecture  the  future 
from  the  past.  Age  gives  way  to  age, 
but  the  events  of  one  century  are  won- 
derfully like  those  of  another ; for  they 


198 


ENCYCLICAL 


are  directed  by  the  Providence  of  God, 
Who  overrules  the  course  of  history  in 
accordance  with  His  purposes  in  creating 
the  race  of  man.  We  are  told  that  it 
was  cast  as  a reproach  on  the  Christians 
of  the  early  ages  of  the  Church,  that 
the  greater  number  of  them  had  to  live 
by  begging  or  by  labor.  Yet,  destitute 
as  they  were  of  wealth  and  influence, 
they  ended  by  winning  over  to  their 
side  the  favor  of  the  rich  and  the  good- 
will of  the  powerful.  They  showed 
themselves  industrious,  laborious,  and 
peaceful,  men  of  justice,  and,  above 
all,  men  of  brotherly  love.  In  the 
presence  of  such  a life  and  such  an 
example  prejudice  disappeared,  the 
tongue  of  malevolence  was  silenced, 
and  the  lying  traditions  of  ancient 
superstition  yielded  little  by  little  to 
Christian  truth. 

At  this  moment  the  condition  of  the 
working  population  is  the  question  of 
the  hour  ; and  nothing  can  be  of  higher 
interest  to  all  classes  of  the  state  than 
that  it  should  be  rightly  and  reason- 
ably decided.  But  it  will  be  easy  for 
Christian  workingmen  to  decide  it 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  199 

right  if  they  form  associations,  choose 
wise  guides,  and  follow  the  same  path 
which  with  so  much  advantage  to  them- 
selves and  the  commonwealth  was  trod 
by  their  fathers  before  them.  Prejudice, 
it  is  true,  is  mighty,  and  so  is  the  love 
of  money  ; but  if  the  sense  of  what  is 
just  and  right  be  not  destroyed  by  de- 
pravity of  heart,  their  fellow-citizens 
are  sure  to  be  won  over  to  a kindly 
feeling  towards  men  whom  they  see  to 
be  so  industrious  and  so  modest,  who  so 
unmistakably  prefer  honesty  to  lucre, 
and  the  sacredness  of  duty  to  all  other 
considerations. 

And  another  great  advantage  would 
result  from  the  state  of  things  We  are 
describing ; there  would  be  so  much 
more  hope  and  possibility  of  recalling 
to  a sense  of  their  duty  those  working- 
men who  have  either  given  up  their 
faith  altogether,  or  whose  lives  are  at 
variance  with  its  precepts.  These  men, 
in  most  cases,  feel  that  they  have  been 
fooled  by  empty  promises  and  deceived 
by  false  appearances.  They  cannot  but 
perceive  that  their  grasping  employers 
too  often  treat  them  with  the  greatest 


200 


ENCYCLICAL 


inhumanity  and  hardly  care  for  them 
beyond  the  profit  their  labor  brings  ; 
and  if  they  belong  to  an  association 
it  is  probably  one  in  which  there 
exists,  in  place  of  charity  and  love, 
that  intestine  strife  which  always 
accompanies  unresigned  and  irreligious 
poverty.  Broken  in  spirit  and  worn 
down  in  body,  how  many  of  them  would 
gladly  free  themselves  from  this  galling 
slavery  ! But  human  respect,  or  the 
dread  of  starvation,  makes  them  afraid 
to  take  the  step.  To  such  as  these 
Catholic  associations  are  of  incalculable 
service,  helping  them  out  of  their  diffi- 
culties, inviting  them  to  companion- 
ship, and  receiving  the  repentant  to 
a shelter  in  which  they  may  securely 
trust. 

We  have  now  laid  before  you,  Vener- 
able Brethren,  who  are  the  persons,  and 
what  are  the  means,  by  which  this  most 
difficult  question  must  be  solved. 
Every  one  must  put  his  hand  to  the 
work  which  falls  to  his  share,  and  that 
at  once  and  immediately,  lest  the  evil 
which  is  already  so  great  may  by  delay 
become  absolutely  beyond  remedy. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  201 

Those  who  rule  the  state  must  use 
the  law  and  the  institutions  of  the 
country ; masters  and  rich  men  must 
remember  their  duty  ; the  poor,  whose 
interests  are  at  stake,  must  make  every 
lawful  and  proper  effort  ; and  since 
Religion  alone,  as  We  said  at  the  be- 
ginning, can  destroy  the  evil  at  its 
root,  all  men  must  be  persuaded 
that  the  primary  thing  needful  is 
to  return  to  real  Christianity,  in 
the  absence  of  which  all  the  plans 
and  devices  of  the  wisest  will  be  of 
little  avail. 

As  far  as  regards  the  Church,  its 
assistance  will  never  be  wanting,  be  the 
time  or  the  occasion  what  it  may  ; and 
it  will  intervene  with  the  greater  effect 
in  proportion  as  its  liberty  of  action  is 
the  more  unfettered  : let  this  be  care- 
fully noted  by  those  whose  office  it  is  to 
provide  for  the  public  welfare.  Every 
minister  of  holy  Religion  must  throw 
into  the  conflict  all  the  energy  of  his 
mind  and  all  the  strength  of  his  endur- 
ance ; with  your  authority,  Venerable 
Brethren,  and  by  your  example,  they 
must  never  cease  to  urge  upon  all  men 


202 


ENCYCLICAL 


of  every  class,  upon  the  high  as  well  as 
the  lowly,  the  Gospel  doctrines  of 
Christian  life  ; by  every  means  in  their 
power  they  must  strive  for  the  good  of 
the  people  ; and,  above  all,  they  must 
earnestly  cherish  in  themselves,  and  try 
to  arouse  in  others,  charity,  the  mistress 
and  queen  of  virtues.  For  the  happy 
results  we  all  long  for  must  be  chiefly 
brought  about  by  the  plenteous  out- 
pouring of  charity  ; of  that  true  Chris- 
tian charity  which  is  the  fulfilling  of  the 
whole  Gospel  law,  which  is  always  ready 
to  sacrifice  itself  for  others’  sake,  and 
which  is  man’s  surest  antidote  against 
worldly  pride  and  immoderate  love  of 
self ; that  charity  whose  office  is 
described  and  whose  Godlike  features 
are  drawn  by  the  Apostle  St.  Paul 
in  these  words  : “ Charity  is  patient, 
is  kind  . . . seeketh  not  her  own 

. . . suffereth  all  things  . 

endureth  all  things.”  1 

On  each  one  of  you,  Venerable 
Brethren,  and  on  your  clergy  and 
people,-  as  an  earnest  of  God’s  mercy 
and  a mark  of  our  affection,  We  lovingly 


i I.  Corinthians  xiii,  4-7. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  LABOR.  203 

in  the  Lord  bestow  the  Apostolic  bene- 
diction. 

Given  at  St.  Peter’s,  in  Rome,  the 
fifteenth  day  of  May,  1891,  the  four- 
teenth year  of  Our  Pontificate. 

LEO  XIII.,  Pope. 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3 903- 


01654365  4 


L 1^.-10412:3 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  HEIGHTS 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 

Books  may  be  kept  for  two  weeks  and  may  be 
renewed  for  the  same  period,  unless  reserved. 

Two  cents  a day  is  charged  for  each  book  kept 
overtime. 

If  you  cannot  find  what  you  want,  ask  the 
Librarian  who  will  be  glad  to  help  you. 

The  borrower  is  responsible  for  books  drawn  on 
his  card  and  for  all  fines  accruing  on  the  same. 


